Two redheads
by IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: When Pepper and Natasha both get pregnant, things are getting a little more complicated. Pepper/Tony and Clint/Natasha. T for sometimes bad language
1. Chapter 1

She noticed it after a harmless mission. Okay, harmless is a point-of-view-thing, but you get it. For the Black Widow, this mission was harmless, even borderline boring. A simple in-kill-out. A solo-mission.

She was in her hotelroom, waiting for the extraction, when she looked at the calender. And then she noticed it. Her periode was overdue.

Her thoughts began racing frantically from this-can't-be over I-cannot-be-pregnant to this-means-nothing. If she wouldn't have panicked that much, she would have laughed about herself. The famous Black Widow, who doesn't even fear gods, is terrified by such a normal thing like a late periode. It took her solid ten minutes to recompose herself and start thinking clearly again. She was only late two days, no reason to panick. It meant nothing. Still, she would have felt better if Clint had been there. He was her rock, and by the way, if she really was pregnant, he was the father. She wiped that thought out quickly. She was not pregnant. She and Clint were assassins, they could not be parents. She was not pregnant.

* * *

Pepper was scared, too. She had just looked at her calender and noticed the little red signs that showed she should be on her period. But she was not.

Pepper was scared, yes, but she did not panick like Natasha. On the one hand, that was because she was no assassin. She was the CEO of an important company, yes, but normally nobody would kill her because of that. Also, Pepper was used to human catastrophes, so she knew this was none. She knew that a late period doesn't have to mean anything. She knew that, if she was pregnant, Tony would love it. He always dreamed of having children and she herself had wished for it too. So, no, Pepper did not panick when she noticed her period was late. But she would have felt way better if Tony had been there.

* * *

It was the next day when Natasha came home from the mission. Clint was still on his solomission, and Tony was on a businesstrip to Europe, while Steve was on a motorcycle-tour through America, Bruce was in India fighting the Cholera and Thor was in New Mexico visiting Jane.

So it was only the two women in the tower.

Pepper immediatly sensed that something was wrong with Natasha. The two of them – as the only women in the tower – had formed a strong friendship and Pepper knew that right now something troubled the other woman.

„What is it, Natasha?"

„What?"

„What's wrong?"

„Nothing..."

„Don't lie to me, Natasha, you're my best friend, I know something is wrong."

Natasha smirked. Here she was, the famous Black Widow, and it had taken Pepper no ten seconds to read her.

„I... I think I may be ..." Her period hadn't started till now.

Pepper had an idea.

„Your period is late."

Natasha was stunned. „How the hell...?"

„Call it female intuition. So, have you made a test?"

„No, I … not yet."

„Okay. I'm kind of in the same … situation, so maybe we just do it together?"

„Wait, you too?"

„Yes. Fate's irony."

Natasha chuckled. Soon the chuckle became a laugh, and Pepper laughed with her. It was so good to laugh about it. And deep down, Natasha knew that she also laughed because she wasn't alone. Pepper was by her side, and that meant more to her than she would ever admit.

„I have buyed a few test today, so you can have one or two." Pepper said.

„How many did you buy?"

„How many would you buy?"

„Touche." Natasha smiled.

Ten minutes later, they stared at the small sticks. Each had taken five tests, and the results were pretty clear.

„Positive." Natasha whispered.

„All of them." Pepper breathed.

„That means..."

„We're both pregnant."

„This is going to be interesting."

**AN: My first real Avengers-story. Please tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

After seeing the results of the tests, Natasha wanted a vodka.

„As much as I'd love to have a drink after … this, we can't. We're pregnant. We can't just have an alcoholic drink." Pepper meant.

„I'm russian. I drink when I want and what I want."

„Right now, you're a pregnant russian. It's not good for the child if you drink a vodka now."

„Don't say it ..."

„Don't say what?"

„Don't … it makes it real."

„The child … it is real, Natasha."

„Pepper!"

„What are you going to do? Will you keep it?"

„Will you?"

„Yes. What about you?"

„I can't!"

„To make that clear, I'll stand right behind you whatever decision you make. But please think of how it could be if you keep it."

„It's … I'm an assassin, Pepper! I can't be a mother!"

„Of course you can! And you're not alone. You have Clint, and don't look at me that way, it's obvious, and you have me and the rest of the Avengers. You're gonna be a great mother, Natasha."

„Pepper, you don't understand …" She let the part that Pepper knew she and Clint were a couple slip. It was probably really obvious.

„Then tell me."

„I … I grew up in the Red Room. I never had a mother … at least I can't remember her. How can I be a mother without knowing how that works?"

„It is intuition. You will know what to do. And, like I said, you're not alone. I'm here, too, remember? We will work it out together. I don't know how it works, either. And you have Clint. It will be okay."

„But Pepper, I'm a murderer. An assassin. My ledger is gushing red. How can I have a child?"

„The past is the past. Yes, you did some horrible things, but this child means you have to think of the future. I don't say you have to forget your past, but … you can do that."

„It will be in constant danger. I have so many enemies …"

„So does Tony. But we will protect our babies. Don't you think so?"

„I ..."

„Breath, Natasha. It will be alright. Just take a moment and breath, okay? You obviously already care for the child"

„I …"

„You already said that. You will be a mother. And you will do a great job. Now stop pacing around and sit down."

It took a few more minutes and a strong peppermint-tea, but finally Natasha calmed down.

„How long did you know about Clint and me?" she asked.

„I suspected it pretty much since you both moved in. And then I saw you two on the roof one night. As I said, it was obvious."

„Do the others know?"

„No. I'm suprised too, since Tony tries to find out since he knows you two, but he never really got it."

„And you didn't tell."

„We girls have to stick together. It was clear you didn't want anybody to know, so I kept quiet." Pepper answered while getting a big cup of choclate ice.

„Thank you."

„No problem."

„No, thank you … for everything. For not telling the others about Clint and me, for being here with me, for keeping me from panicking … for everything."

Pepper smiled at Natashas words. „I meant what I said. You're my best friend, and that's basically what friends are for."

Natasha smiled too. She realized she never had had a best friend before that actually was a girl.

„So, what are we going to do now?" She asked.

„Since I need a bit time till I tell Tony and he's on this buisnesstrip anyway and Clint is still on a mission, I'd settle for a few movies and choclate ice? There is no way I can work after that."

„Sounds perfect to me."

Later, when they were watching Indianah Jones hunting down some Nazis, Natasha noticed that the thought of having a child wasn't that terrifying anymore. She actually started liking it. Somehow, she knew that she wouldn't survive an abortion. And she was fine with it. All thanks to Pepper keeping a clear head and telling her exactly how stupid she was.

A baby. She and Clint were going to have a baby.

Pepper was really an angel.

**AN: I hope this wasn't to OOC. I had the feeling they needed to have this talk before the story can go on. Telling Tony will be the next chapter =)**

**Tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: First of, a big thank you to everybody who reviewed, favourited and/or follows! You totally made my day!**

Tony came back from his buisnesstrip the next morning. The trip had been incredebly boring, and if Pepper hadn't threatend him with sleeping on the couch for a week he would have come back early.

He found both woman in the livingroom, Pepper working (of course) and Natasha reading. It was a strangely normal picture, two redheaded woman being in such a peaceful silence. For a moment you could forget that one of them was the CEO of a quite important company while the other was a deadly assassin.

Natasha looked up, hearing him entering even though he tried to make no noise. He shot her a smile and walked over to Pepper, as quiet as possible. She was so caught up in her work, she didn't notice until he covered her eyes with his hands and whispered:

„Guess who I am!"

„Tony!" She smiled and kissed him.

„How was your trip?"

„Boring, what else? How was it here?"

Pepper seemed to think a moment. „Quiet."

As if there had been some conversation between the woman (it must have been some telekinesis, Tony decided later), Natasha stood up quietly, greeted Tony nicely and went out of the room.

(In the aftermath, Tony thought this should have made him suspicious. Natasha being nice to him without an obvious reason? Something had to be wrong!)

However, Tony did not think in this moment. He used the opportunity to kiss Pepper once more, this time with much more passion. After long, amazing moments, Pepper pulled away breathlessly.

„I … I have to tell you something."

„If it's something buisness-related I don't want to know." He answered while kissing her neck.

„It has nothing to do with buisness and … would you please stop! I want to tell you something important!"

„It can't be so important." He said, kissing her shoulder.

„Tony! I'm pregnant."

That had him stop immediatly. She turned around to look him in the eyes. He stared back.

„Stop staring and sit down. I don't want you to faint."

He followed her orders, moving as if he was in trance. Pepper chuckled.

„Don't be so shocked, it was bound to happen sometime."

„Are you … are you sure?" He stammered.

„Yes, I am sure."

„I … I am going to be father?" She chuckled again.

„Yes, you're going to be father."

„We're going to have a child?"

„Yes, we're going to have a child." She confirmed.

Somehow, that brought the life back into him. He stood up and pulled her in his arms. He laughed and so did she.

„We're going to be parents!" she said. She pulled back a bit to look him in the eyes and noticed a single tear making her way down his cheek.

„We're going to be parents." He whisperd.

Then he kissed her, soft and gentle and so full of love that she forgot her surrondings for the moment.

* * *

Later, when they both had calmed down a bit, they sat on the couch together. Pepper's laptop with the work lay forgotten in some corner of the room.

Tony had one arm around her waist, the other one caressed her cheek.

„Does Natasha know?"

„Yes. She is my best friend and I needed a girl to talk to."

„You don't have to justify it. It's good as it is."

Pepper didn't tell him about Natasha's pregnancy. That was something that hadn't need to be said between the woman. If Natasha wanted Tony to know, she would tell him herself. Otherwise, Pepper kept quiet. And, by the way, Tony probably would have really fainted when he got to know that there would be two pregnant women in the tower.

„You're pregnant. We're going to have a child. I still can't believe it." Tony said ginning stupidly.

„It is true. I'm pregnant. You're in for nine month of hormons, weird cravings and mood swings."

„I think I can handle it." He said, the grin never leaving his face.

„And after that there will be midnight feedings, no sleep, a baby that throws up on you..."

„I'm looking forward to it."

Pepper grinned back at him, probably looking as stupid as he did.

* * *

Natasha watched the two from her place in the air vents. Truthfully, it was Clint's place, one of his nests, but she knew all of his hiding places and used them quite often.

She smiled at how happy Tony and Pepper were. When Pepper told, she thought Tony actually might really faint, but Pepper had been herself and got him calmed down.

Hopefully telling Clint would go of as happy as this encounter.

* * *

**AN: Again, sorry for OOC-ness. And sorry this is so fluffy, but I'm a big Pepper/Tony fan and couldn't resist. As you probably already guessed, telling Clint will be the next chapter.**

**Tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't until two days later that Clint got back from his mission. It had been supposed to be a simple in-shoot-out-thing, that's why he had been alone, but it turned out to be a bit more complicated (because, really, who could have known this druglord wasn't only one, but two identical twinbrothers sharing that one identity?).

So, when Clint came home, not injured, but extremly tired, all he wanted to do was fall into the bed and sleep. But of course, fate had other plans.

* * *

Natasha had been wary the whole day. A mission going longer than planned was nothing new, in fact about every second mission didn't hit the time frame, but she was pregnant and did not know how to tell the father and now he was on some 'easy' mission... she worried. Not that she would ever admit it.

So when he came back in the late afternoon, she was very relieved. Over the years, she had developed a look for injuries on her partner, and luckily, right now she saw none. But he was tired. Very tired. Probably hadn't slept in at least 48 hours, considering the heavy bags under his eyes. He should just go to bed.

But Natasha knew that she had to tell him now. Like Right now. Before he found out on another way. Before he was sent on another mission.

So, when he came in their bedroom, she was already there.

* * *

He entered their room and was very happy to find Tasha there. She was always the only one he _wanted_ to see after a mission. She stood up from the bed, hugged and kissed him and whispered her 'hello' on russian.

„Hello" he whispered back.

Something was wrong. He sensed it immediatly. She pulled him down and sat on the bed with him.

„Clint, I … have to tell you something."

Later he thought of himself as stupid for not getting it then. When had she ever begun a conversation with 'I have to tell you something'?

But in this moment, he didn't think. He just looked into her eyes and hoped it was nothing to important.

„I …" she interrupted herself, looked at her hands and started new.

„We never talked about …" She was nervous. He had never seen her this nervous. She took a deep breath and tried a third time.

„I … I'm pregnant."

Whatever he expected, this was not it. In this moment, the shock was overwhelming. He fainted.

In his defense, he had just gotten back from an exhausting mission, hadn't slept in 48 hours and had never ever thought of hearing Tasha saying this words. But fact is fact, he fainted.

* * *

Natasha was pretty shocked when Clint just fainted. Obviously his brain decided that he was much to tired to understand this news and just shut down.

A second, she panicked. This seemed to become a habit of hers lately. She would have to work on it. She grabbed him and shaked him a bit.

Then, thankfully, the thinking part of her brain took over and she checked his pulse. Normal. Just the exhaustion and the shock. She couldn't blame him. He had found a way more elegant way to deal with it, even though she wasn't sure if the panick would not come later.

So, she just layed down with him, pulled the blanket over both of them and closed her eyes.

* * *

A few hours later, Clint woke up. He lay in his bed, Tasha next to him. What had happend?

He remembered coming home from the mission and Tasha being there to greet him. She had wanted to tell him something. Something important. For some reason he obviously passed out. What had it been that she was trying to tell him?

Trying to remember, he glanced around the room. What was it? It was bothering him. She had been nervous, never a good thing with Tasha.

Then his eyes fell on her book, lying on her nightstand. It hit him harder than any bullet could have done. 'What to expect when you're expecting'. She had told him she was pregnant.

He looked at her. Still sleeping peacefully. He had to smile. Tasha, his Tasha, was pregnant. They had never talked about having children, he had always thought she didn't want any. Always thought his dreams of a little red-headed girl running towards him and calling him 'daddy' were damned to be exactly that: Dreams.

And now she was pregnant. He grinned stupidly. He was going to be a dad.

Suddenly, he remembered what he had done after she told him. He had fainted. Hopefully she didn't thought he didn't want it after that! He suddenly feared she wasn't going to keep it. She was the Black Widow after all. What if she decided for an abortion?

But she lay here right next to him and on the table lay a pregnancy book, which he thought was a good sign.

He gently caressed her cheek. She looked so beautiful while sleeping. She slowly opened her eyes.

„Recovered from the shock?"

„Yes. I'm sorry."

„Don't be. It was actually better than what I did after seeing the test results." She smiled.

„What did you do?"

„I panicked a bit. Thank god Pepper knows how to keep calm in such situations."

„Yeah, I always think she has to be a saint for not running from us all till now." He chuckled.

He had to bring it up now. He didn't want to raise his hopes when she wasn't going to keep it.

„What are we doing now?"

„I think I'll have to tell Fury. He won't be pleased."

„So you want to keep it?"

„Yes" Incredable happiness flooded his mind. She was going to keep it. They would have a child!

„Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

„Yes, but I still love to hear it." She grinned now, too. He pulled her closer and said:

„I think I may have to borrow this book from you then."

„Probably."

**AN: This one is fluffy, too, I know, but I decided that I won't apologize for it anymore ; )**

**I hope you liked it anyway! Tell me what you think!**


	5. Chapter 5

It was a rather quiet evening when it happened.

Natasha and Clint hadn't told Fury yet. Telling Fury would be like telling Tony, considering how often he hacked SHIELD. And, not that they would ever admit it, they were also afraid of Fury's reaction on his two best agents not only being a couple but also expecting a child. Offically, they were only friends. They had always feared Fury would split them up if he found out. So they had kept quiet.

All of the current residents of Stark (or Avengers) tower were sitting in the livingroom. That would be: Natasha, Pepper, Clint and Tony. They had spent about half an hour convincing Pepper that the company wouldn't fall apart if she didn't thought of it for an hour or two, so in the end she left her Blackberry in the kitchen and now all of them were watching Mission Impossible. The first one. (Even though at least the men in the room hoped they mabe could go through all of them today). Pepper sat on Tony's lap, while Clint and Natasha were sharing the other couch.

Then it happend. Suddenly, the movie stopped and JARVIS voice filled the room.

„Mr. Fury is calling. He says it's urgent."

„Tell him to back of." Tony said.

„He threatens to overwrite my communication protocolls."

Tony sighed annoyed. „Patch him through."

„Yes, sir." There was a 'click' and they knew they were connected.

„One-eye. What do you want?"

„Stark. I want to talk to Romanoff."

„Here" Natasha replied.

„There is a mission for you. I want you at the HQ in five."

Natasha was shocked. She never thought … she couldn't go on a mission while she was pregnant! She felt Clint's body tensing next to her, knowing he thought the same. What should they do? Should they …?

„Actually, Director, I need Natasha here." That was Pepper. Natasha and Clint looked at her, beyond suprised. What was she up to? But the other woman just gave them her 'trust-me-I-know-what-I-do'-grin that reminded tham both alarming much of Tony.

„Why should I let you have my best operative?" Fury asked, slightly irritated.

„Because you owe me a favor." She told him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

There was a pause. Natasha couldn't help but smile. There seemed to be nobody in this world who was somehow important and didn't owe Pepper one.

„I don't think ..." Fury growled.

„Oh, come on." Pepper said sweetly. The two assasins exchanged a look. They had learned to fear that sweet tone.

„You owe me one, and I'm calling that favor in. It's not that complicated."

Grumbling, Fury gave in.

„Can you at least tell me for what you need one of my best agents?" He asked.

„Do I ask you for what exactly you need her?" With even more angry grumbling, he ended the call.

There was a moment of silence after that, in which they all stared at Pepper. Tony was (of course) the first to regain his voice.

„THAT. WAS. AMAZING! You totally bossed him around!"

Pepper just smiled and leant back at Tony.

„Thanks" Was all Natasha could say.

„No problem. That's what friends are for." Pepper shot her a warm smile.

Clint said nothing, just looked at her and silently thanked her too.

Of course, Tony noticed.

„Wait, why exactly …?" Then realization hit him. „You're pregnant!"

Natasha sighed, knowing there was no sense in lying.

„Yes, I am."

Tony looked almost comically while proceeding this information.

„What, so shocked, Stark?" Clint couldn't help but tease.

„This is going to be dangerous, Barton, believe me. Two pregnant woman in this tower..."

„Wait, two?" Clint asked, now shocked, too.

Pepper and Natasha just exchanged a look and rolled their eyes simultanly.

**AN: I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! My holidays are over and I had so much to do for school! I hope the next update won't take so long. Anyway, tell me what you think. Should they tell Fury?**


	6. Chapter 6

When Clint woke up a few nights later, the bed was empty. He casted a quick look at the watch: 2:13 am. Where the hell was Tasha?

He tried to remember the evening. It had been one of this quiet evenings he learned to cherish over the last two weeks. Just Tasha, Pepper, Tony and him, additionally a good movie and a beer (okay, a few)(and of course, for Pepper and Tasha it had been a coke). They went to bed short after 11 pm, and now, about 3 hours later, his partner was gone.

He touched her side of the bed. Cold. She had to be up for more than ten minutes. Groaning, he got up. Shortly he considered asking JARVIS for help, but then decided that he wanted to do some things himself. And that the AI would have told him if something was really wrong.

So, he started searching and assassin in the middle of the night in this labyrinth of a tower they called home. This would be a long night.

* * *

He started with their floor. It was still akward, thinking of it as theirs. But that probably went along with being on a team with Tony Stark.

After a while, when he had searched every of her many hideouts and all of his nests, he was convinced she wasn't here, so she probably was in the common floor they shared with Tony and Pepper. So, he went to the elevator.

To his suprise, he found Tony in there, looking like he just got up, what, by the way, should be the way Clint looked like, too.

„Morning" he said.

„Is it morning yet?" came Tony's mumbled replie.

„No idea."

A short silence followed, till Clint became aware of the fact that he was in an elevator at 2:55 am with Tony Stark and there hadn't been a party or a battle or something. The only logical thought that his sleepy brain offered was: If he heads for the lab, Pepper is going to kill him.

He just decided to ask.

„Why are you up?"

„Searching Pep. You?"

„Same here. Tasha's gone."

After another short silence, Tony said:

„What is this? Conspiracy of the redheads to take away our sleep?"

„No idea. And way to tired to think of one."

(Later, both Tony and Clint would deny this conversation ever happend. Because, well, Clint was an assassin and should be used to working through nights, and Tony was an ex-partyking. None of them could explain why they were that tired. Or how they managed to shut down their brains enough to have this conversation.) (They blamed the beer. Tony never bought that brand again.)

* * *

When they got out, the first thing they noticed where the lights. All on. Than they heard the television and finally the voices of Tasha and Pepper.

He glanced to Tony, who just shrugged.

Together they entered the livingroom.

* * *

Tasha and Pepper were sitting on the couch, with big plates with food in front of them and „Mamma Mia" on the big screen. They were both singing along. Loud.

It didn't sound that bad, actually both of them had nice singing voices and they hit the most tones, but Clint and Tony were both to suprised (and tired) to appreciate it.

Tasha noticed them immediatly. Clint knew she had a moment before she turned her head towards them, making Pepper noticing them as well.

„Morning" she said casually, as if it was nothing unusual to find the two residing redheads in the middle of the night singing ABBA.

„It's not that I don't like you both singing..." Tony started.

„But why at three in the morning?" Clint finished.

„I was hungry. So I went down here to get something and found Pepper." Tasha said.

„We talked a bit and agreed this movie is great, and well, here we are." Pepper added.

„Is that … a steak on your plate?" Tony asked unbelieving.

„I'm pregnant! You better get used to it." Pepper answered sharply.

Clint stopped himself from asking a very similar question about the … interesting collection of food on Tasha's plate when he saw the look on his partners face.

The woman just exchanged a look and petted on the couch beside them.

Sighing, both men moved.

When Tasha and Pepper had started singing again, Clint leaned back and said to Tony:

„We really should start reading this pregnancy book."

**AN: So, I have never been pregnant, so everything I write about is just what I heard it shall be like. Also, I apologise for updating so late again. What shall I say, my teachers are crazy =)**

**Hope you liked it!**

**PS: If you don't like it, tell me why not. I'm always open for suggestions.**


	7. Chapter 7

It was barely a week after their nightly incident when suddenly Steve showed up. He just walked into the Stark tower and totally suprised the security guards with the statement that he was a friend of Tony's. Of course, they didn't believe him.

So, on a nice afternoon, when both Clint and Tony were sitting in the livingroom, finally reading those pregnancy books (it gave them the perfect excuse not to go shopping with their girls, and they knew that if they didn't really read them, Pepper and Tasha wouldn't exactly be pleased), JARVIS voice cut through the comfortable silence.

„Sir, security guard Davis asks if you know a Steve Rogers."

Clint looked up and frowned.

„Steve is here? I thought he wanted to travel America and then Europe?"

Tony was equally suprised, but just shrugged and said:

„Guess we'll have to ask the man himself."

And then, to JARVIS:

„Tell him to let Cap up."

„Yes, Sir."

„You do know that Steve is form the 1940s and probably totally overwhelmed by the technologie?" Clint said.

„Well, he traveled at least a bit, didn't he? And anyway, a confused Cap is a funny Cap."

„You still don't like him."

„Don't know him long enough to make a decision about that matter."

The statement didn't suprise Clint that much that they would have a few weeks ago. It was something he had noticed about Tony in the time he knew him. The billionaire seemed to be really superficial, but Clint saw the reality now. He had seen how Tony was when Pepper was around, how he adored her, he had seen that Tony didn't really trust all his 'friends' from the managment, in short: He had seen that it took Tony much to open up to somebody and trust. But when he did, he did completly. Clint still didn't saw the parameters for that trust, though. Because, really, the circle of people Tony trusted was... well, there was Pepper (as his girlfriend and basically the manager of his life understandable), Rhodey (okay, the guy was military, but Tony's best friend since college), Happy (the guy was Tony's bodyguard, so alright) but then it got strange: the other two persons in this circle were Tasha and Clint himself. Two masterassassins. One of them had been undercover in Tony's company, as his personal assistant, and lied him straight in the face the most time, while the other had been worked for Loki sometime. Okay, in the end Tasha had probably saved Tony's life and Clint had been under mindcontrol when he had helped Loki, but still. It was still strange that the two of them had earned Tony's trust.

And so he wasn't suprised that Tony said he needed to know Steve better to say if he liked him. In the battle, they all had trusted Captain America, but Steve Rogers? They didn't know him.

* * *

Natasha and Pepper were in a cafe, drinking some tea and just chatting.

It felt somehow akward to Natasha, she was a spy for god's sake, but she liked it. Going shopping with her best friend felt good. Normal. As if she wasn't the Black Widow. If she wasn't an Avenger. As if she was just a pregnant woman enjoying a free afternoon with her also pregnant best friend.

Best friend. Another akward thing. Only a few month ago, she would have said she had only one friend: Clint. And now... now there was Pepper, the fierce and fiery woman in front of her, that knew her so well and accepted her just like she was. She was getting really used to be around her, and she liked it. She even started to like going shopping. Before, it had been boring. But now, with Pepper, it was fun. She mentally smirked at how mushy she was. The hormones, definitifly.

That was the only possibility, because she even allowed herself to think of Tony as a friend. Tony Stark, the snarky ex-partyking and part-time-asshole, and she thought of him as a friend. She knew Clint did, too. The hormones were really getting the worst out of her, and she was only in her second month.

* * *

„Hey, Capsicle!"

„Hello, Tony."

„Hi."

„Hello Clint, didn't see you."

„And he's not even hiding."

Clint smirked. Tony was rambling. Everyone else thought of it as extremly annoying, but Clint knew it was Tony's way of protecting himself. This snarky behavior created a wall between him and others, just like Tasha not showing any emotions or Pepper being all business-like with people she didn't know, just like Clint staying in the shadows when he wasn't sure about others. But Steve couldn't know that.

„I'll get you a drink, we have to celebrate!"

And Tony was gone. Really? Clint understood that the billionaire was not sure about Steve, but a drink? Pepper was going to kill him when she got here and he was drunk. A normal Pepper was scary, a Pepper who was best friends with Tasha was even more scarier, and a pregnant Pepper who was best friends with a pregnant Tasha... Tony should watch out.

„I... Are you here often, Clint?" Steve asked into the akward silence.

„Actually, I live here."

„You do?"

„Yeah."

„How long?"

This was really getting uncomfortable. Clint wished he could have gone with Tony. It was not that he did not like Steve, he had fought a battle under him, but well... he had the feeling he only knew Captain America. And being in the livingroom with Steve Rogers was... akward.

„Since two weeks after the battle."

„You didn't kill Tony in between?"

Clint chuckled. Who would have thought that? Captain America was being humorous?

„Nope, even though Tasha was close to doing it sometimes."

„Tasha?"

„Agent Romanoff"

„Ahh... okay. She lives here too?"

„Yeah. Momentanly she is out with Pepper."

„Who is Pepper?"

„Tony's girlfriend."

„He has a girlfriend?" Steve seemed confused.

„Oh yeah, she's great. She really has him under control. And she is best buds with Tasha. What is kind of scary. Anyway, there both out momentanly. Shopping."

„Finally. I found something good."

Tony was there again.

„I don't think you should drink something now. Pepper will kill you. And now, I'm not risking her wrath. And remember that Steve here can't get drunk."

Tony thought of it a moment, then nodded.

„So, Capsicle, why are you here anyway? What happened to traveling America?"

„Well, I don't know. World has changed much more than I thought. I maybe should learn a bit about what happend before I go on traveling. And since I don't really have a home anymore and you offered all of us could move in..."

„Cool. Then we have two thirds of our super-secret-boygroup-with-one-girl here! Come, I'll show you your floor!"

„You already have a floor for me?" Steve looked suprised.

Clint just smirked. This was going to be interesting. Hopefully Tasha and Pepper were back soon.

**AN: Not so sure about this chapter. I thought we should get some insight of what Clint and Natasha think of Pepper and Tony... And I read many fic's where Tony and Steve are best buds from the beginning, what I don't really see... Anyway, tell me what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

Natasha and Pepper returned to the tower late in the afternoon, hands full with shopping bags and in extraordinary good mood. While walking into the elevator, they chattered happily about that wonderful new coffeeshop in the 3rd.

„Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Stark wishes me to inform you that Captain Rogers has arrived." JARVIS said.

The two redheads exchanged a confused look.

„Captain Rogers is here? I thought he wanted to travel the country?" Pepper asked.

„At least, that's what he said." Natasha replied.

„JARVIS, where are Tony and Clint?"

„I believe they are showing Captain Rogers his floor, Ms. Potts."

„We maybe should go there, too. Tony and Rogers didn't exactly get along well." Natasha said.

„Yeah, Tony mentioned some... misunderstandings. But at least Clint is there. Let's drop our bags and then pay them a visit. I always wanted to meet Captain America."

* * *

Steve felt out of place. He was in this …. giant building, next to Stark, who showed him some insanly big apartment and Steve just had the feeling that he didn't belong here.

While he wondered where Barton was – he could have sworn that the mand had been right here seconds ago – a voice came from seemingly nowwhere.

„Ms. Potts and Agent Romanoff have arrived."

Steve flinched and searched the room for the speaker, but Stark just chuckled and said:

„Lead them here, JARVIS."

And then, to Steve:

„That is JARVIS, my AI. Basically a big, inteligent computer butler wo runs the house."

This was strange. To be honest, Steve didn't trust modern technologie, and this JARVIS thing... was it even a thing? Or was Stark just kidding him and it was a person? He remembered Stark talking about a JARVIS on the hellcarrier, something along the lines 'JARVIS is hacking SHIELD'.

„You'll get used to it."

For the second time in under five minutes, Steve flinched. Where the hell had Barton come from? And how thad the archer managed to sneak up on him? He was a supersoldier!

Barton and Stark both chuckled. Perfect. The two of them seemed like best buds. Partners in crime.

„He's here for not even an hour and you already made him feel uncomfortable? Where are your manners, Tony? Clint?"

The womans voice came from the door. Steve saw Starks face light up and turned around. There stood two woman, Agent Romanoff – somehow strange to see her without a gun strapped to her tigh – and another redhead, even though the hair of the second woman was more a ginger tone. She wore jeans and a white blouse and she smiled, while Stark hurried towards her and kissed her.

„Hello, Captain Rogers. My name is Pepper Potts. I'm Tony's girlfriend. I'm sorry for anything embarassing he probably said." She introduced herself, still wearing that lovely smile. Steve immediatly liked her.

„Don't be, Ma'am. And please, it's Steve."

„Only if you call me Pepper. Ma'am makes me feel like an old woman. I see Tony and Clint already brought you here. But I think it's late and we all could need a little snack, don't you? Tony, please order some pizza. No, you're not cooking anything yourself, you know how that ended last time. Clint, could you please tidy up the livingroom a bit so we can eat there? And Steve, I guess you have noticed JARVIS..." That moment, her phone rang. She looked at it, cursed and then excused herself.

Steve had watched in awe how this fragile looking young woman took over the situation, he exspecially liked the part where she started commanding Iron Man and Hawkeye around.

Agent Romanoff walked to him and greeted:

„Nice to see you here, Captain."

„Same goes for you, Ma'am. And it's Steve." he replied.

„Okay. You look suprised by Pepper, but you'll get used to it. Pepper has everything under control. Always. She's the real boss in here. Even Fury treats her as an equal." The assassine even smiled. At least a bit.

„Really?" Steve asked. That seemed kind of unbelievable to him.

„Yeah. She can be very intimidating if she wants." Now that seemed strange.

„She seems very nice."

„She is." It is not helpful when the only person that helps you to figure out the mistery of Stark's girlfriend is a mistery herself, Steve thought.

That moment, Pepper came back.

„I'm so sorry. There was a small problem in the marketing devision but I think – hope – it's solved now. Where did I stop? Ah, JARVIS. Just A Really Very Inteligent System. He is an AI, that means artifical intelligence, what means that he is a computer, but he can think and … well, nearly everything. Dn't worry if that seems strange to you, it took me the better part of my first year to get used to it. But he is connected to the internet and you can ask him everything." She smiled kindly as the voice came back:

„As Ms. Potts already said, I'm ready to assist you with anything, Captain Rogers."

Steve smiled carefully. At least he felt not completly out of place anymore.

**AN: Yes, I know, they haven't told Steve anything yet, and there wasn't one mention of Pepper and Natasha being pregnant in this chapter, but it was so much fun to write... I hope you liked it! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated, as are you're ideas!**


	9. Chapter 9

Pepper didn't really know how to act like in Cap... Steves presence. He seemed to be kind and was definitifly very polite, like some shy guy she would meet at an art exhibiton, but on the other hand this man had led 'earths mightiest heroes' into a battle against alien … and won.

She also knew there had been disagreements between Tony and Steve, what was nothing special, but could infect the life in the tower if he moved in. She knew that being snarky was Tonys way of protecting himself, but Steve probably didn't. So she did what she did best: Taking over the situation and doing damage-control.

She send Clint (whom she had seen standing in the shadows, just so far away from Steve that Pepper knew he was feeling uncomfortable) and Tony to make dinner and started thinking of ways to release the tension when her phone rang. Most people would have called a spelling mistake in a commercial making it some pretty ugly curse more than a 'minor error', but Pepper was Pepper: The woman who managed Tony Starks life for more than a decade now. There have to be more than that to make her loose her temper.

Making her way through the floor with Steve she noticed that he seemed quite wverwhelmed by the situation. Pepper smirked, it hadn't been a lie when she told him that it took her nearly a year to get used to JARVIS. And she was from this time. Steve was from the 1940s.

While explaining the various technologies build to make the life easier to Steve another thought struck her: Steve was from the 1940s. In that time, more than just the technologie was different. If she could believe Tony (and here she was pretty sure she could), the guy was still a virgin. And she was a pregnant, unmarried woman. She had never cared much about what others said about her relationship with Tony, but she didn't want Steve to think bad of her. Not that he would ever say anything. He was way to polite for that. But still... she would have to talk about this with Natasha. Luckily she wasn't the only one in this situation.

* * *

Dinner was nice. Not as akward as Steve feared it would be. Pepper did a good job in making conversation with everyone, and thanks to that the atmosphere wasn't as tense as it could have been. Stark was snarky, but one unhappy glance from Pepper and he stopped it. Barton and Romanoff were mostly quiet just eating their pizza.

Steve looked around. They had gotten a margarita for him, probably wanting to be sure he'd eat it. They couldn't know it was his favorite. Romanoff had a frutti di mare, while Barton ate his diavolo. Pepper and Tony both had pepperoni on theirs.

Suddenly, both Romanoff and Pepper paled. Pepper mumbled 'bathroom', while Romanoff just went. Stark and Barton exchanged a worried glance, while Steve was just suprised and pretty confused.

* * *

In the bathroom Pepper and Natasha tried to recompose themselfes after throwing up.

„Morning sickness in the evening?! Really?!" Natasha complained.

„Well, Mom always said it was definitifly a man who invented that word. Guess she was right."

„Is this going to be that way the whole time?"

„Don't know. We'll have to see... but when I have you here already, we need to talk about Steve." Pepper replied.

„What's with the Captain?"

„He is a gentleman. From 1940. 1940, Natasha. I wouldn't be suprised if he said he never even kissed a girl. And, well, we two are pregnant and unmarried... are you married?"

„Not really."

„How can you be 'not really' married?"

„Budapest. We had no priest or anything like that... no ring, no papers, officially there's nothing." Natasha smiled at the memory, than froze. Had she just really told Pepper about Budapest?

Pepper noticed Natasha's frown, but decided to ignore it.

„So, nothing Stee would accept as real marriage. You see my point?"

„Yes. But since when do you care about what people say about you and Tony?"

„Usually I don't. But well, Steve's a nice guy and also I don't want this to interfer your work as a team. How can you work together when Steve doesn't respect Tony because of this?"

„Relax, Pepper. It's one of the things he has to learn about this time. We'll just let it slip in. And he will not think of you any bad. Haven't you seen how impressed he was when you took over the situation down there? He probably sees you as his only allie."

Natasha smiled at her warmly.

„By the way I never thought I would give you a pep talk. That's your job!"

* * *

„Do you think they are okay?" Steve asked warily. The temperature in the room seemed to have significantly after Pepper left, without the gingerhead the men didn't really know what to talk about and went to an uncomfortable silence.

„If not JARVIS would have informed us by now." Stark said, not sounding entirely convinced himself.

That moment, the two woman walked back in, and Steve allowed himself a small sigh of relief.

„You okay?" Stark asked. Barton didn't say anything, but exchanged a long look with Romanoff.

Both woman shrugged and Pepper answered:

„Yeah, sure. But the term 'Morning sickness' definitifly comes from a man."

Stark and Barton smirked while the women sat down again.

Steve had the feeling he was missing something. Something big. Morning sickness. In the evening. Why call it 'morning sickness' when it happens in the evening? Wait. Morning sickness. That meant...

**AN: Sorry for long wait! I put in a bit of cliffhanger here, I just couldn't resist. Also with the pizza... just had to write it =) **

**Tell me what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: First off, I'm really sorry this took me so long, I was busy writing my two one-shots 'Forever' and 'Letters'. Also, I'm not entirely content with how this turned out. I hope you like it =)**

* * *

_Previously:_

_Steve had the feeling he was missing something. Something big. Morning sickness. In the evening. Why call it 'morning sickness' when it happens in the evening? Wait. Morning sickness. That meant..._

* * *

Clint nearly laughed out loud when he saw realization dawning on the Captains face. This shocked look he soon tried to cover, obviously in the fear of being impolite, was just priceless.

After a few akward moments, Pepper decided to put Rogers out of his misery and at least give him the chance for a proper reaction:

„Natasha and I are pregnant. It's actually kind of funny, both of us at the same time."

Rogers took the opportunity handed on a plate and answered politely:

„Congratiolations then, two both of you. How far along are you?"

This time, Tasha answered:

„Somewhere around seven weeks, I think. Both of us."

* * *

Steve felt akward. Of course this was 21th century, of course he had heard that more and more couples stayed unmarried, but to hear that at least three (he was pretty sure Barton was the father of Romanoff's child) of his so-called teammates lived that way was still shocking.

On the other hand had Stark made it very clear that he didn't live by the rules right from the beginning and Barton and Romanoff were assassins. He didn't expect them to be traditional. And, when he thought about it, who said they weren't married? They were spies. To quote Stark, 'they're secrets have secrets'.

So, he tried to be happy for them. Stark and Pepper werre clearly in love, and he had noticed that Romanoff was way more relaxed when Barton was around which he thought was assassin for 'we're a couple'.

* * *

To Pepper's relief the evening went on without big difficulties. After dinner, they settled in front of the TV and showed Steve some classics ('What?! You don't know Star Wars?!)

Pepper lay in Tony's arms, while Clint had wrapped and arm around Natasha and Steve sat on the other couch, totally caught in the happenings on the screen. Pepper smiled. This wasn't as tense as she expected, and she had the feeling that this wouldn't be the last classics-movie-evening.

* * *

Two days later Tony, Clint and Steve were sitting in the livingroom. It felt somehow strange to Steve to call them with their first names, but since they lived together now, Pepper had decided it was for the best. That Clint and Tony did what she said showed Steve once more who was the real boss here. And she was right. It would have been more akward to refer to them with their last names.

They were watching a movie (Matrix, obviously another must-see, even though he didn't see why. The plot was so confusing.) when suddenly Pepper and Natasha stormed in.

Pepper yelled: „Anthony Edward Stark!" the same moment Natasha yelled: „Clinton Francis Barton!"

Steve had survived an alienattac and the second worldwar, but right now he would have sworn that the sight of this two furious redheads was the scariest thing he'd ever seen.

He was caught completly of guard, and judging by the look on their faces, so were Clint and Tony. What had they done to make Pepper and Natasha that angry?

„Where the hell is the choclate?" Okay, that answered the question... not really.

Natasha, maybe, but Pepper losing it over choclate? Just no.

But Tony and Clint seemed to understand.

„Ah... We have some in..." Clint tried.

„Yeah, we have it..."

„In the fridge." JARVIS jumped in helpfully. „Ms. Potts and Agent Romanoff stashed it there because they liked it best when it's cold."

The two woman stared at the ceiling, than at the three man, and took off.

„Mood swings. And we didn't even reach the 2-month-mark." Clint sighed.

On Steve's confused look, Tony said:

„Obiously it's part of being pregnant. Hormones aren't balanced out and everything."

„They made us read one of those pregnancy-books." Clint threw in.

Steve looked at ther door where Pepper and Natasha had went through. This was going to be more difficult than he expected.

* * *

In the kitchen, Natasha and Pepper had calmed down over their favourite choclate.

„I feel kind of bad for yelling at them." Pepper said.

„I don't. We're pregnant. We're allowed to do that."

„Have you seen Steve's face? He was so confused!" Pepper chuckled.

„Yeah, I think we gave the poor guy quite a shock." Natasha joined her laugh.

After that, they were quiet for a few moments.

„We should probably see a doctor anytime soon." Pepper meant.

„Yeah... but that means Fury will find out."

„You can't hide it from him forever."

„I know, but a bit longer would be nice. Why haven't you visited a doctor yet?"

„If I go, there's a probability of about 99% that the press will find out. I don't want that. And if the press finds out, the board will find out. It's hard enough to hold my position sometimes, they will see this as a sign of weakness."

„Tell Tony their names. I'm sure they'd be fired in under 10 minutes."

„We speak of the man that still doesn't know his social security number."

„Yeah, but for you he would manage it."

„They're no bad guys, they just..."

„You know what? You tell me their names. I'll teach them to disrespect my friend."

„Nice offer, but no. I need them." Pepper chuckled now, and Natasha joined, even though her comment had been only a half joke. She had not many friends, but Pepper was one of them. And Natasha protected her friends.

„So, what do we do?" She asked after a few moments.

„We go together."

„Sounds like a plan."

„And we bring our boys. I don't know about you, but I'll kill Tony if he misses that."

„Yep. If Clint doesn't come, he's a dead man."

* * *

**AN: So, that's it. Thanks to ****I'm a Nerd and Proud**** for suggesting Pepper getting a moodswing on Steve. Next chapter is the doctor's appointment. Any suggestions? And do you want to know the gender of the kids? Do you want it to be twins or not? Tell me!**


	11. Chapter 11

„A doctor's appointment? I guess you're right. But that means Fury will find out."

„No, that means you're telling him."

„Why am I telling him?"

„Because you're the father."

„And you're the mother."

„Exactly. I'm pregnant. I would yell at him, probably. So don't pee in your pants and do it."

„...Later."

* * *

Tony, Pepper and Steve sat in the livingroom.

„We should get Bruce to move in." Tony said. „Considering we others all already live here. Does anybody know where he went?"

„India. And I think it's a good idea. I read his file and from what I gathered, he's a nice and calm man. Maybe we'll only have to rebuild your lab twice in a month then." Pepper answered.

„He's still the Hulk. He could destroy the whole building." Steve felt the necessity to remind them.

„And a super-soldier, a billionaire with a heavily armed metal suit and a habit of blowing things up plus two master assassins couldn't?" Pepper asked sarcastically.

„Point, I suppose."

„I think I'll call him. You've got his phone number?" Tony asked Pepper.

„He has no phone. Doesn't want SHIELD to find him that easy again."

„But they have found him?" Steve asked.

„I don't think they really searched. They, or at least Fury, don't see him as a threat anymore. You'll have to go there and talk to him if you want him to come."

* * *

And why exactly are we here? He's best buds with you, not me or Steve." Clint grumbled. It was hot in India. Really hot. And Tasha's doctor's appointment was tomorrow. Okay, that was plenty time, but still...

„Because we're a team."

„And why isn't Tasha here then?"

„Because... she scares me. She and have a spa-day today and do you really want to risk their wrath?"

„Where exactly is he anyway?" Steve asked.

„Somewhere..." Tony started, looking around, only to be interrupted by a familiar voice.

„Searching somebody?"

They turned around to see Bruce Banner standing there, looking comfortably in this area.

„Yeah, you actually." Tony was, of course, the first to regain his wit.

„Fury wants me to come?"

„Do I look like I work for eye-patch?"

„Now that you ask..."

„No. I... We wanted to invite you to move over to the tower. We all live there, even our redheaded assassin friend."

„You really think it's a good idea to come back to New York? I could destroy the whole city. Again."

„To quote my girlfriend 'And a super-soldier, a billionaire with a heavily armed metal suit and a habit of blowing things up plus two master assassins couldn't?'"

Bruce chuckled, but said:

„I'm still not sure this is a good idea."

Steve and Clint had watched the exchange silently, but now Clint felt the need to intervene.

„Of course it's a good idea. Pepper thinks you can stop Tony from blowing the tower up." At Bruce's confused look, he added „She's his girlfriend."

„Well..."

„Come on. We need you there." Steve threw in.

Bruce took a deep breath and said:

„Okay. Let's grab my things."

* * *

They noticed the dark clouds on their way to Bruce's apartment, but thought nothing of it.

When they had finished packing (it took suprisingly long, Bruce had many books), it had started raining. Really heavily.

„ A monsoon." Bruce said calmly, as if this was nothing unusual (which it wasn't, at least not to him, he lived here long enough to get used to it.) „It's basically a heavy rainstorm. It'll take two or three days, so we'll have to stay here for that time. No planes fly through a monsoon."

„What do we do two or three days in a little house in India?" Tony asked.

„I've got scrabble."

* * *

"JARVIS, where are they?" Pepper asked calmly, but clearly angry.

„It appears there is a monsoon over Mumbai. They can't fly back till at least tomorrow."

„I'll kill him. No, I'll kill them all. He promised he would be here!" Natasha yelled.

„Looks like we're going to the appointment alone." Pepper stated.

* * *

The doctor was a nice, middle-aged woman named Dr. Smith. They had appointment directly after each other (Pepper under her real name, Natasha as Natalie Rushman) and they went in together.

„Lady's only, isn't it?" Dr. Smith asked smiling.

„Well, the fathers promised to come." Pepper said, still a bit angry.

„Well, looks like they are going to sleep on the couch for a few days." The doctor said and Pepper and Natasha chuckled.

„Who of you is first?" Dr. Smith asked. Natasha decided she liked her. She was highly recommended by SHIELD and seemed to have a good sense of humor. Natasha looked at Pepper questioning, and the other woman just shrugged, so Natasha raised her hand.

„Okay, Natalie, ly down here. This is going to be a bit cold."

Natasha thought it was more than a bit cold, but said nothing. She was a russian, after all.

„Ah, here we have the child. It's well evolved, I see a strong heartbeat. Do you want to know the gender?"

Natasha thought about it a moment, she had wanted Clint to be here to find out together with him, but … this was her revenge, she decided.

„Yes, I'd love to."

„Congratiolations, it's a girl."

Natasha smiled. She was going to have a little daughter. She could already imagine a little redheaded girl on Clint's lab.

„Now you, Virginia."

Pepper smirked and Natasha knew why. Pepper hated that name.

„Same procedure, it's going to be a bit cold."

Pepper hissed, and then looked at the screen.

„Now that's nice. Twins, Virginia. I see the heartbeats, good and strong. Do you want to know the genders?"

Pepper seemed to be shocked, but happy shocked.

„Yes, of course."

„Well, you're having a boy and a girl."

* * *

**AN: I hope you like it! A big thank you to everyone who reviewed! And if I have messed up about monsoons, I don't know so much about it... it just fit with the story =) **

**Tell me what you think!**


	12. Chapter 12

„It's wonderful to be back."

They had just arrived in Stark tower and were definitely tired of anything related to rain or water or storm or the slums of India. And Stark tower was perfectly high-tech-y.

When they got to livingroom, Bruce was pretty amazed. Tony hadn't lied when he had said it was like Candyland. And he hadn't even seen the labs yet.

The livingroom was empty, what seemed to confuse the other three men. Then Steve asked carefully:

„What date is it?"

Clint paled and said: „The 10th."

Now, Tony also paled. Bruce got really confused. He heard Tony muttering:

„We're dead. We're goddamn dead."

„I think I show Bruce a bit of New York. You two clear this." Steve seemed kind of hectic suddenly. Soon he dragged Bruce back into the elevator. On his questioning look the Captain said:

„You don't want to be there now. You just don't."

* * *

Clint and Tony glanced warily at each other before they started searching their by now probably murderous girlfriends. After they systematically checked all quarters, they finally found them in the kitchen. Both redheads were sitting there peacefully, reading and eating chocolate ice-cream.

„Hi." Tony tried.

„Hello Tony." Pepper said, deadly calm.

„Hey Tasha" Clint wanted to go over to kiss her hello, but somehow he had the feeling that wouldn't end well for him.

„How was India?" Damn, she had the same calm tone in her voice that Pepper displayed. Tony and Clint shared another look. They were _really_ in trouble this time.

„Wet and rainy. But Bruce came back with us." Tony said.

„That's nice. He's gone with Steve?" Tasha asked.

„Yeah..." Clint answered warily.

„Good."

Gosh, that was bad.

„Listen, I'm sorry..." Both men started simultanly.

The two woman just shot them an ice-cold look and went back to read their books.

„I think you two should find Steve and Bruce before they get lost." Pepper said.

* * *

„Okay, we need a plan." Clint stated.

„Yeah, we need something good." Of course they weren't searching Steve and Bruce. They were sitting in Tony's lab and planning how to get their girlfriends to forgive them.

„Any idea?" Clint asked.

„Nope. What is the most dangerous I think is how calm they are. A yelling Pepper I can handle, but this calm Pepper? I'm not sure 'bout Natasha, but I don't think this is normal for her?"

„No, it's definitively not her style. I guess they want to show us we really messed up this time..."

„But it wasn't even our fault! It was the damn monsoon!" Tony whined.

„Doesn't help." Clint replied. „They are angry, and _oh shit_, I haven't told Fury yet."

„You have to tell him?"

„Tasha said something about pregnancy hormones... anyway, he's probably gotta call soon..."

„You know what? chocolate. Chocolate and the promise to watch this horrible movie with them, 'The notebook'." Tony suggested

„That... could work. But we'll need a 'sorry'-card. And much chocolate."

„Nothing that can't be arranged. I'm more worried about the movie... I still don't like it..."

„Don't like it? It's a torture to watch it! ... But if it makes them forgive us... How do we get really good chocolate in a really short time?"

–

When Pepper and Natasha came to the livingroom two hours later, they found the couchdesk full with their favourite chocolate. Above all were to envelopes, one for Pepper and one for Natasha.

In Peppers was a card that said:

* * *

Dear Pepper,

I'm so sorry I missed the appointment. It wasn't planned and I wanted to be there, but I wasn't and for that I apologize. I hope I can make up with this and a movie evening? You pick, I'll watch it, no complaints (even if it's 'The notebook')

Yours,

Tony.

* * *

Pepper smiled as she read this. Tony usually didn't apologize, and this time it definitively came from heart.

Natasha smiled over her card, too. It was no typical 'sorry'-card, it was a postcard from – of course – Budapest. It simply said:

* * *

Dear Tasha,

I'm sorry. Really. Movie night? You pick. You're allowed to pick everything.

Clint

* * *

Natasha shortly wondered how he got a card from Budapest, but then decided to just appreciate the nice gesture. She knew exactly which movies Clint hated, and though she was satisfied with his apology, she planned on picking those movies...

She looked over to Pepper.

„We should get angry at them more often." Natasha stated.

**AN: Next chapter is Bruce getting to know Pepper and Clint telling Fury... tell me what you think! As always, suggestions for the further story are appreciated =)**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: And another chapter. Took me a bit longer to write, I had a few difficulties with it.**

* * *

Somewhere in the wintery central park, a confused Bruce walked behind Steve.

„So, what exactly was this?" He asked.

„Ah, well, Natasha and Pepper had set a quite important date yesterday. And, well, they wanted Tony and Steve to accompany them. Seeing they were in India, they couldn't make it."

„And...?"

„It was _really_ important to Natasha and Pepper. Believe me, the two of them are going to be really angry. And you don't want to be there when that happens." Steve nearly seemed to fear this Pepper.

„Shouldn't we back Tony and Clint up then? It wasn't their fault."

„Ah... no. When our two resident redheads get that angry, the only thing left to do is a strategical retreat."

* * *

„The choclate is nice."

Tony sighed in relief. He knew, that meant he was forgiven... for now.

„So, how was the appointment?" He tried his luck.

„You're talking about the appointment you missed even though you promised to be there and I reminded you multiple times?"

The billionaire winced slightly, but then he got that she was just teasing him.

„Yeah, well, next time I'll tell the monsoon to back away because my girlfriend wants me to be home."

Pepper smiled. She looked absolutely stunning when she smiled. Tony knew that, of course, but it had still the same effect on him every time.

„You better do." She didn't stop smiling. How did he deserve such a woman?

„About the appointment, I went with Natasha. Actually, I have the ultra-sound here."

She had this look. This look that told him something was up. Then she handed him the picture and Tony just...

„Twins?" He asked unbelieving.

„Yep. We're gonna need to buy everything double."

Tony couldn't believe it. Twins. Twins. TWINS! He wasn't only going to be father, he was going to have twins. Two babies. TWO! His whole head was spinning.

He kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck. The kiss wasn't overly passionate, but gentle and filled with joy.

After what feeled like an eternity, they parted.

„Did you... did you ask for the genders?"

„Yeah." She was teasing him. He saw the amused spark in her eyes as he waited for her to continue.

„Both. We're going to have a girl and a boy."

* * *

She was so beautiful. He had followed the music, classic, Tchaikovsky, as a part of his brain registered, and had found her dancing around the room.

Her beautiful red curls flew as she moved with the music, and like always he felt himself totally caught by her beauty. Really, there was no word that could describe her better.

He could feel it when she noticed him. She didn't stop dancing, but after all those years as partners (and lovers) he knew her better than everybody else.

When the music stopped, she turned around.

„Are you still angry?" Clint asked.

„Yes." Tasha answered, but she took away the sharpness of her own word in wrapping her arms around his neck. The music started again and they began dancing together, slowly, intimate, like so many times before.

„What did the doctor say?" He asked after a while.

„The baby is healthy. And, it's a girl."

A girl. He would have never admitted it, not even to himself, but secretly he had wished for a little girl, maybe with Tasha's red hair, that he could spoil and that would be his little princess.

He smiled and whirled her around, reading the joy he felt in her eyes.

Silently asking for permission, he pulled her closer and then, looking into her eyes, he kissed her.

* * *

A few hours later a frozen Steve and Bruce came back. Steve wasn't that bad, being a super-soldier and all, but Bruce was just human (at least now) and just came back from India.

They walked into the livingroom where they found the other four.

Bruce looked at them. Tony was curled up on a couch, together with a quite beautiful redhead, probably the famous Pepper Potts, his girlfriend. On the other couch, there were Clint and Natasha, also curled up together. That suprised him. He had known they were close, he had even guessed they were a couple, but it still felt strange to see them showing it so openly. Together they watched a movie that looked suspiciously like 'The notebook'.

The ginger-head was the first to see them. She paused the movie and turned towards them.

„Hey Steve, and you must be Dr. Banner. I'm Pepper, Tony's girlfriend. Welcome in our tower!"

She seemed really kind and smiled openly. Bruce shook her hand and Natasha's.

While he sat down with them and they started the movie again, all he could think was: And that's the woman Steve was scared of?

* * *

**AN: I know, I promised you I'd let Fury find out in this chapter, but it didn't really fit... I'll put it into the next chapter. Tell me what you think!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: I don't know how I managed to do this so fast... I don't care. Here it is.**

* * *

„I think I got away with it."

It was just after lunch (who would have thought Steve could cook?) and Natasha and Pepper were sitting at the table together.

„No, really, it's been nearly a week since our appointment and there wasn't a newspaper article till now. I think they really didn't notice." Pepper said satisfied.

„Well, actually I'd been suprised if they had. I mean, really, you're the woman multiple secret agencies including SHIELD tried to employ. If you don't want anybody to find out, nobody will find out." Natasha said smiling.

„Well, it's all about predicting the others." Pepper grinned too, a slightly evil grin Natasha would have feared if she hadn't known that Pepper was her friend.

„Still, Fury is going to find out. Our doctor answers to SHIELD, you know that." Pepper continued.

„Yeah. Honestly, I'm suprised he didn't call till now. Not sure if that's a good or a very bad sign." Natasha sighed.

„Oh, well, what shall he do? He can't exactly punish you." Pepper, always the voice of reason, said.

„He can split us up."

„I don't think he's gonna do that. You two are his best team. It would be stupid to split you just to prove a point. Fury knows that."

„I sometimes wish I had you're faith, Pepper."

„It's not faith, it's knowledge of what people in power most probably will do."

* * *

Two levels below, the guys were having a nice time in front of the TV. They were watching 'Rambo' together, because Clint and Tony had agreed that Steve needed to know these movies. Natasha, annoyed by the unrealistic action, and Pepper, who didn't like the story, had excused themselves directly after lunch.

They were having quite a good time, feeling like 'real men' again after the 'notebook' disaster (at least that was what Tony and Clint called it. Steve actually preferred that movie if compared to Rambo, and Bruce never saw the sense in so much blood on the screen) till suddenly JARVIS stopped the movie.

„Mr. Fury is on line 1."

„We're watching a movie. Tell him to call later!"

„No, I'm not gonna call later!" That was Fury. How the hell had he managed to hack JARVIS?

„Why did you patch him through, J?" Tony asked angrily.

„Ms. Potts advised me to do it."

„You're girlfriend really controls your life, Stark." Fury commented.

„Leave Pep out of this. What do you want, Eye-patch?"

„Barton, I know you're listening, so don't even try to hide. You come to my office now. As in: Right away. Clear?"

Clint winced slightly. He had feared this call ever since Tasha's appointment.

„Yes, sir."

He got up. Tony patted his shoulder and said:

„If he fires you or Romanoff, you know I can give you some job." Clint smirked. It was a running joke between them and Fury. Fury tried to recruit Pepper, saying she'd be a great handler (which, by the way, was true. She'd manage all the different teams _and_ handle the council) and as response Tony tried to get Clint and Tasha to work for him. It wasn't really serious, Fury knew Pepper would never leave Stark industries for any agency and Tony knew Clint and Tasha wouldn't leave SHIELD, but right now it was somehow comforting to know that he was at least somewhat independent from Fury.

* * *

Clint made it to Fury's office in record time. He didn't want to piss him any further.

Shortly he had considered dragging Tasha with him, but then decided against it. He didn't want to sleep on the couch tonight.

„Good luck, Clint." Maria Hill said as he passed her.

Clint smirked. Did she know? Probably. She was Fury's right hand and even though she wasn't nearly as good as Pepper, she still had a few sources that probably told her what was going on.

He hesistated a moment, then he knocked at Fury's door.

„Come in, Barton."

Fury was sitting at his desk, like usually, with files spread all over it, and glared at the younger man.

„Can you explain me why Dr. Smith told me that Romanoff visited her for an appointment?" He said deadly calm. Just like Tasha and Pepper...

Clint gulped and prepared himself for a bigger outburst.

„Well, sir, ..."

„She's pregnant. My best asset is pregnant. So I of course ask myself who's the father. And you know what? All my sources say it's you."

„Well, yes, sir, we were about to tell you..."

„You were about to tell me. Really? That's all you have to offer?"

„Ahh, yes. That's about it."

„How long?"

„She's in the third month."

„No, that I knew. How long have you and Romanoff been?"

„Ah, well, 5 years."

„5 YEARS? YOU HAVE BEEN AN ITEM FOR FIVE YEARS? AND YOU DIDN'T THINK I'D LIKE TO KNOW THAT?"

„Well, Coulson knew." Clint tried to defend himself.

„Coulson... and that bastard didn't tell me."

Clint stayed silent. Coulson was still a sensible subject, to all of them.

Fury gathered a few files and sighed.

„Tell Romanoff she's on maternity-leave. Only desk-work till that child is born. Since Romanoffs not available, you're going to have to do more missions. And you're going to be partnered up with other agents, so don't even try to change that. Somebody has to make up for the loss. And... congratiolations, to you both. Coulson would be proud of you."

When Clint left Fury's office, he smiled slightly. That went better than he had thought.

**AN: After all, Fury is a big softie =)**

**And, well, today is my birthday, I'm 18 now, and you know what would be the perfect gift? Right. A review. So tell me what you think!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Merry Christmas to everybody!**

* * *

Natasha loved christmas.

As a child, in the Red Room, she had never celebrated it. Hell, she hadn't even known what christmas was. It was just another day in the cold winter of Russia.

But then she had met Clint. He had changed everything. She smiled at the memory of her first christmas.

* * *

_It was cold and dark, in the middle of the night. They were sitting in an empty flat in eastern Europe and were assigned to watch the movements of an mobster boss. Right now he was sleeping in a bed next to his lover, while his wife sat in her fancy house on the other side of the city._

_Natasha was freezing, but she wouldn't admit it. It was strange. She had known Clint for half a year now, and she trusted him more than any other person she'd ever met before. Not completely, but she trusted him to have her back in a battle. That probably was connected to that horrible mission in Sao Paolo, where he had saved her more times than she would admit. The memory of the firestorm and the screaming civilians made her shiver slightly. They had never known how many innocent people died then. She had only survived because Clint had been there, firing arrow after arrow, always watching her back, and somehow she had started trusting him to do so._

_She quickly pushed the memory out of her mind. She didn't want to remember. She looked over to Clint only to find him staring at her. She shot him a questioning look._

_He just shrugged. And then, when the clock stroke twelve, he whispered: „Merry Christmas, Tasha."_

_Natasha had been so suprised that she didn't even notice the nickname. He obviously got her confusion and walked over to her. _

„_You don't know christmas?" He asked. They weren't supposed to talk, but Natasha really wanted to know what he was talking about, so she whispered back:_

„_No. What is it?"_

„_It's... how do I explain christmas? It's a holiday. Sometimes people call it the holiday of love. Basically, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But many non-religious people picked up on that tradition, so it's more a 'I want to give my friends and family something'. There are many things to do, there is a christmas tree, everybody gets presents, often there is a big meal and everybody is happy." He tried._

„_Seems strange."_

„_Probably. But it isn't. I love christmas."_

„_Why?"_

_Clint took a deep breath and answered:_

„_When I was a child, christmas was the most important holiday for me, you know. My father was out, drinking, but he'd always stay in that bar till the holiday was over, so it was only mom, my brother and me. Mom always cooked. She said at least for christmas we need something good. We helped her, and she always got presents for us. Little things, she couldn't afford more, but it was such a good feeling open that present and see that she got something we liked, you know. She always knew what we wished for, and got as close to this as she could. At christmas, we could pretend we were a normal family. No. At christmas, it felt like we were a normal family."_

_Natasha stayed silent after this confession. She didn't know much about Clints childhood or family, but from what she gathered his father had been volatile and his brother also wasn't somebody he liked to talk about. Only his mother seemed to be okay. But probably she was dead._

„_I remember something from my childhood, before the Red Room. I must have been two, so it's nearly impossible that I remember it, but there was a tree in our livingroom. I don't know what tree, but it was decorated with candles, I think. Could that have been a christmas tree?" _

„_Yes. Most probably." Clint answered, looking at her. Natasha knew what he thought. She had never told him about her past before. Never._

_She looked him in the eyes, and then moved closer to him. They were sitting on a bed, and Clint wrapped an arm around her. She should have been shocked, she should have moved away, but sitting next to Clint felt so good, so right, that she stayed were she was and layed her head on his shoulder. Before she drifted of in a light sleep, she murmured: „Merry Christmas."_

* * *

After that mission, they had started to open up to each other. Before, they had trusted each other to save their six, but now they let each other in, told the other about theirs pasts, their fears, theirs weaknesses.

While she sat next to Clint in the livingroom, looking at the christmas tree and drinking a tea, she smiled again. Also, after this they had always celebrated christmas together. Sometimes on missions, sometimes at home, but always together. It was no christmas without him, what she had noticed when he was on a mission two years before and she at home. But then, when she went into her room to sleep, he had stood there. She had been absolutely suprised, but he had just walked towards her and hugged her. So, even this christmas they shared together. And next christmas, she suddenly realized, they would be three. She smiled again. When she looked around, seeing Pepper and Tony snuggled together, Bruce and Steve on the other side of the room, she could only think: How do I deserve this?

**AN: I know, I know. This is**** extremely fluffy. But hey, it's christmas! So be nice with me. =) **

**Again, Merry Christmas to everyone and tell me what you think!**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Sorry for the long wait!**

* * *

„I don't want that."

Natasha and Pepper were sitting in the livingroom, watching TV. Right now there was a documentary about kids who grew up in the spotlight of the media.

„I don't want that for my twins. I want them to have a normal childhood, and … I'm not sure I can make sure they have that." Pepper said.

„Define normal, Pepper. They are going to live in a skyscraper in New York together with the Avengers." Natasha answered.

„That... well that's different. I know it's going to be crazy, but you guys are family. I can live with all the craziness that comes from family. What I can't live with is that they will be under inspection every time they go out of the house, that their faces will be known by most people in America, that people will recognize them when they go to school or just to a playground. They will be famous before they know what 'famous' means."

„Your famous to. People recognize you, too."

„I choose this life. I grew up in a quiet family and had the possibility to form myself before I was thrown into this world."

„You're right. But I think you forgot about the possibilities you have to stop the media from showing the twins all around."

„What possibilities?"

„You really don't realize how powerful you are, right? One word of you, and I bet that no newspaper will publish anything. Don't look at me that way, I know how you handled the crisis with that commercial. And you didn't even need to pull the big things. You just talked to the people and it worked out. Now think of what you can reach if you threat to sue those guys... I don't think you have to worry so much."

„I was actually thinking of preparing something like that, you know. Heidi Klum, a german model, managed it that it's forbidden to show the faces of her children in newspapers or anything public within Germany. I thought of doing something similar."

„That sounds more like you. I'm absolutely sure you'll manage it."

Pepper sighed.

„That's not the main problem." Natasha realized.

„I'm scared, Natasha. I'm in the fourth month now, I'm starting to show, and I'm scared. In about five month I will be a mom. A mother. I just don't know how to do that, you know. I … theoretically I know that's completely normal and that I shouldn't be scared, that most mothers are naturals and that I have Tony by my side and all you guys, but..."

„It doesn't help."

„No. I know all this things, but my heart decides differently."

„I think that's normal, too. I don't have much to go by, but take me: I' not scared, I'm terrified. I'm terrified I will do things wrong, or that I will go on a mission and not come back and my daughter has to grow up without me, or that Clint dies or … sometimes it's nearly too much. I'm scared I will be a shit mom because I don't know how that works. I... I can face an army of aliens without a thought, but being a mother? I just plain scared."

„We'll make it work. And if it's just because we have to. Those kids will need us, and we will have to try our best. That's the least we own them." Pepper said.

* * *

In Tony's workshop, there was a quite similar conversation. The only difference: Instead of tea, the men drank beer.

„I... I don't know how that works, being a father, I mean. My father wasn't exactly a good example and … I just don't know." Tony said. (They had already had a few beers)

„Same here. All I know about being a good father comes from docu-soaps and cheesy books where everybody has his happy ending. Nothing about how explaining that you are an assassin to your child. Or how to be an assassin and a father for the matter. Nothing important."

„I know Pepper will do good, she's a natural in such things. She's a really good woman, and not nearly as screwed up as I am. I mean, look at me. I'm a drinking billionaire with a metalsuit and a habit of blowing things up. I'm a danger for everyone around me. How can I be a father?"

„You've gotten way better. And you adore Pepper. I'm sure you'll work it out, you haven't blown up your lab once this week."

„It's only Wednesday."

„Good point. But you're trying, that's what counts. You want to make it good."

„You do, too."

„Guess we both have to hope for the best."

„Yes. Ahh, and before I forget: we're both gonna have daughters. We should set the rules for them dating."

„Very good idea. No dating till... let's say till their twenty."

„Twenty-five."

„Twenty. It would be kind of awkward if they wouldn't have dated anybody by twenty-five."

„I don't care if it's awkward. We're talking about my daughter!"

„True. Twenty-two?"

„Twenty-two. We should engrave that in stone or something."

* * *

**AN: A bit angsty, I know. But it can't always be pure fluff... I'm not sure how to go on. Shall I put in more drama or make it sweet and fluffy?**


	17. Chapter 17

Clint was scared. He wasn't usually, and now he wasn't even in a danger-zone, there were no gunman shooting at him or explosives threatening to blow him up. No, he was in the middle of New York, in Stark Tower, but he still was scared. The problem was the little box in his pocket.

Or, more exactly, what was in this box.

He had bought it two days ago. He still remembered the talk with Tony about it.

* * *

_He had thought about it for quite a while now. Ever since Tasha told him she was pregnant. But he never done anything... till now. Now he wanted to ask her. But he needed a ring. And help._

_Suddenly Tony stood behind him._

„_Ahm, … I need help."_

_Clint turned around and somehow he knew exactly what Tony would say._

„_I'm … I'm gonna propose to Pepper at 31__th.__, at midnight. But I need help finding a ring, you know, and, well, I can't ask her for obvious reasons, I can't ask Natasha because she would tell Pepper, Rhodey is in LA for some conference, all I get from Bruce about love is something about a Betty and I'm not gonna ask Steve. So..."_

„_So you ask me."_

„_Yes."_

„_Only when you help me, too."_

„_You're gonna propose, too." It was no question, just a statement._

_Clint answered anyway: „Yes."_

„_I know a good jeweler. Let's go."_

* * *

Clint tried to calm himself. She stood right next to him. He had managed to walk her away from the others a bit, and had his arms wrapped around her while they all spoke the countdown.

10

_This will be the most important moment in my life._

9

_God, she looks beautiful._

8

_I think she'll like the ring._

7

_I would have never thought I would one day ask Tony Stark for help with my girlfriend._

6

_She's smiling. She looks so happy._

5

_Last year around this time I was in Afghanistan. Alone._

4

_Coulson should be here._

3

_Next year we'll have our daughter here with us._

2

_The next year is going to be amazing._

1

_I just hope she says yes._

„HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everybody screamed.

Natasha turned around to him and Clint took a deep breath and went to his knee. She looked at him shocked. Then Clint pulled out the box and started talking.

„Tasha, I think you know all I want to tell you, but I'm saying it once again. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I will always love you. I can't wait for our daughter to be born. You make me the happiest man in the world everyday you are here with me. Natasha Romanoff, will you marry me once again?"

Tasha seemed to stunned to answer and just nodded. Clint stood up and she pulled him in a long kiss.

When they finally parted, he took out the ring and showed it her. She looked at it and gasped. It was a beautiful ring, golden with a ruby surrounded by diamonds. In the inside there was written in small letters 'Budapest'. She smiled as he slipped the ring on her finger and kissed him once again.

* * *

Tony, too, had plans for tonight. He had seen Clint guiding Natasha away from the others and even exchanged a conspirational smile with him when he did the same with Pepper.

While she and the others counted down the seconds till the next year all he could think about was her. His beautiful, kind, perfect Pepper who by some wonder decided he was worth her love. He thought of the amazing year that was ending and about the even more amazing time that lay before them. And when the countdown ended and everyone screamed „HAPPY NEW YEAR!" he looked at her and went down to his knees. He had never thought he'd one day do this, but it felt so right.

Pepper looked pretty shocked.

„Pepper, you are the most amazing woman I know. You put up with me when I'm horrible, you stayed by my side a decade while I was being a jerk, you're still here even though everybody thought you'd run in a few weeks. You're perfect, and I love you more than I can say. I can't wait for the future to come, for our twins and our life together. Because that's how it is: I want to spent the rest of my life with you. Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, will you do me the honour to become my wife?"

He hold his breath while he waited for her answer. After what seemed like an eternity, she whispered:

„Yes. God, yes! Of course I'll marry you!"

He pulled her in a hug and then kissed her, long and loving. When they finally broke away for air, he slipped the ring on her finger. It was a golden band with sapphires that matched her eyes, around that a few diamonds, but he didn't look at it. All he wanted to see was her. The new year began perfect.

* * *

**AN: HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you liked it! Tell me what you think!**


	18. Chapter 18

Natasha felt incredibly happy. She was pregnant, the man she loved just proposed and she was surrounded by friends. Really, she didn't know how it could get any better.

And, just like always in such situations, it didn't get better. It got worse.

They were sitting in the kitchen, just Pepper and Natasha, when she felt the storm coming. It was not much at first, just the fact that Clint hadn't called. He was on a mission in India, and he had promised to call after his first check-in. It wasn't the first mission he was sent on after she was set on desk duty, and Clint didn't seem to worried about it, so she assumed it wasn't the most dangerous thing. But he didn't call. Natasha sat there, sipping her tea, and tried to convince herself that it meant nothing. He probably was just late. Maybe to tired to call...?

There was no sense in it. Natasha looked at the clock, felt it ticking and worried more with every second. 10 minutes late... _it doesn't mean anything_... 20 minutes … _he's a bit late, and? Not the first time..._30 minutes …_ he's gonna call every moment now..._45 minutes... „Natasha? What's wrong?"

Pepper's worried voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

„Ahh, nothing..."

„Natasha. You've been staring on that clock for ten minutes now. What is it?"

Natasha sighed. Really, was there anything Pepper didn't get? She had tried to not be so obvious. But well, Pepper was going to find out anyway.

„Clint, he promised me to call after the check-in."

„How long ago was this check-in?"

„50 minutes. It's probably nothing, being late is not so extraordinary..."

„But you're worried."

„Yes."

„Do you know where he is?"

„India. Dubai, to be exact."

„Well, then let's check something out. JARVIS?"

„Yes, Ms. Potts?"

„Pull up every News from Dubai from the last...?" She looked at Natasha questioningly.

„12 hours."

There were a demonstration for death sentence for the men who raped that young woman a few weeks ago and declaration of the prime minister of India about the same thing, but nothing related to Clint and nothing indicating something had gone wrong. Natasha sighed, a bit relieved. She was probably just worrying too much. Clint was okay. Of course, when wasn't he?

* * *

Two hours later and still no sign of Clint. Natasha felt like she was going crazy. She had called Maria, but the woman had told her nothing. JARVIS was alarmed to tell them when he heard something about happenings in Dubai. Pepper called in a few favours, but nobody could tell her anything. And Fury wouldn't tell them what the mission had been about. Right now the two redheaded woman were sitting in the livingroom, the coffee in front of them only a sorry excuse for the vodka Natasha would have preferred in this situation, and waited for Tony and Bruce to come back from the science convention they were on. The two men had gotten in the car as soon as Pepper told them what was going on. Natasha was so far that she'd ask Tony to hack SHIELD to get the info about the mission.

Suddenly the door opened and Steve came in.

„Bruce called me. Anything new?"

„No. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe I'm just overreacting..." Natasha said.

„I know him for only a few weeks now, but if I know one thing than it is that when he promises you he'll call he will call. And I trust your intuition."

He sat down next to them and helped Pepper calming Natasha down. It didn't work so good, but at least the assassin wasn't panicking. Yet.

* * *

Half an hour later Tony and Bruce came in. After short greetings they immediately went to work, breaking through SHIELDs firewalls and trying to find the intel. It was speaking for how worried she was that Pepper didn't even faked a protest.

„That's strange..." Tony said after a while.

„What?" Natasha asked.

„There is a note that Clint is on a mission, but I can't find anything that explains what the mission is about or who his handler is for this one. Nothing."

In the short silence after that JARVIS said: „Sirs, Ms. Potts, Agent Romanoff, there has been a major explosion in Dubai."

* * *

**AN: For all of you who asked for more drama. Hope you liked it. Tell me what you think!**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: I meant Mumbai and not Dubai! So sorry. A big thank you goes to Agent-Hamilton123 for pointing it out!**

* * *

„_There is a note that Clint is on a mission, but I can't find anything that explains what the mission is about or who his handler is for this one. Nothing."_

_In the short silence after that JARVIS said: „Sirs, Ms. Potts, Agent Romanoff, there has been a major explosion in Dubai."_

* * *

A shocked silence.

Then many things happened to the same time: Natasha jumped up and began pacing around the room, muttering curses in Russian, Steve demanded to know what that meant, Tony tried to start the search again but knocked over Pepper's coffee (and started cursing, in English, loud) and Pepper got a towel to clean it while trying to calm Natasha down.

After a few minutes of chaos she noticed something.

„Where is Bruce?"

The others stopped what they were doing. Right, where was the scientist. He'd just been here, only minutes ago. What they really didn't need now was a Hulk outburst.

In this moment he came out of the kitchen. When he noticed everybody staring at him, he shrugged.

„I made tea."

* * *

Over Bruce's tea they all finally calmed down enough to think straight again.

„I've been searching a bit deeper and hacked the council, too. They really need a better security, by the way. Just because the computer says 'secured line' that doesn't mean I can't hack it. Anyhow, it looks like the order for the mission came directly from the council. What exactly it is about I don't know, obviously only the handler knows, a John McKennan. I'm just running a search on his name, but got nothing till now. Obviously Fury doesn't know either." Tony told them.

„That explains why none of my contacts could tell me anything. But isn't it strange that Fury doesn't know? That can't be the normal way, can it?" Pepper asked.

„Definitifly not. He's probably fuming because of it. And... John McKennan. That rings a bell... but I don't know how I know his name." Natasha said, clearly frustrated.

„Good or bad?"

„I don't know. It must have been a long time ago... bad, I think."

„I asked JARVIS about this explosion in Mumbai. Obviously a skyscraper blew up. Officially there was nobody in it, but... even I learned not to trust the official reports. Anyway, it doesn't have to be connected to Clint..." Steve spoke up.

„Yes, and it's snowing in Cairo." Natasha threw in sarcastically.

„I think the point to start is what this mission is about. We already established there is something really fishy about it. We need to know who Clint pissed of to know what happened. And we need to talk with this McKennan." Bruce said calmly.

* * *

Half an hour later Tony spoke up.

„There is something here. A note in the place where the mission file should be."

„How do you know there's a note in that place?"

„Electronic, Steve. It's not a file on paper, it's all on computer. Anyhow, it just says 'Big Boar'. Any idea what that means?"

„Big Boar?" Natasha paled visibly. It seemed like if she hadn't already sat on the couch, she would have fallen down to it.

„You know what that means?" Bruce asked.

„Big Boar is the codename for Antonin Cheykin. One of the really bad guys. Human traffic, assassinations, support of terrorists, arms... everything. Clint and I... we had a mission against the guy. Five years ago. Our cover got blown... we barely made it out alive. If this mission is about him... Cheykin knows Clint. He knows how Clint looks like, who he works for. This is a suicide mission!"

„So why did they send Clint? Why send him there when they know it's that dangerous?" Steve asked.

„I don't know. And... I saw Clint after the briefing. He didn't seem to be worried. He would have told me if he had known!" Natasha was scared. She didn't know where her fiance was and now all this... she felt Pepper sit down next to her, felt the arm the other woman slung around her shoulder. She leant into the comforting embrace of her friend, when Bruce said:

„He didn't know, then. But why...?" He was interrupted by Tony.

„It's a test. They want him to get captured. They want to test if his loyal to SHIELD, if he's gonna talk"

„That's... crazy. They know he's loyal! He's one of the best agents SHIELD has!" Natasha exclaimed.

„But Tony's right. That's the only answer that makes any sense." Steve said.

„But why?"

„Probably because of the Loki incident. It's been month since then, but well, you never know with the council. They send a goddamn nuclear bomb to Manhattan!" Pepper put in.

The others were suprised. Pepper usually didn't curse. But on the other hand, this wasn't a usual situation.

„How fast can we get to Mumbai?" Natasha asked.

„We? You're staying here. We three go." Steve said.

„But..."

„No but. You're pregnant." Bruce put in.

„Guys!"

„You do realize that Clint would just kill us if we bring you?" Tony asked, and after glancing at Pepper, who also didn't look like she was about to let her go, Natasha gave in.

„Okay. But I'm on com. And I get video."

„Deal."

* * *

**AN: I hope you liked it. I'll try to update soon =)**


	20. Chapter 20

This was definitely not like he had imagined this mission.

Clint cursed while he fired arrow after arrow. The briefing had said it would be a simple thing: Break in, get the intel, take off. Nothing about the army of guards that was currently hunting him. Nothing about the handler who he'd only got to know on the flight. NOTHING about the fact that the building he was supposed to break in belonged to Antonin Cheykin. Cheykin. Of all the guys Clint had pissed of, it of course had to be him. Clint had known this mission went shit when he saw Cheykin in the crowd that left the building after he activated the fire alarm. And now he was here, in some outer part of Mumbai, and nearly out of arrows.

* * *

Hot air hit them when they got out of the plane.

Mumbai was just like Bruce remembered it. Loud, hot, poor and rich at the same time.

They had used the time they had on the flight to get more about the mission Clint was on. After some search they had found two buildings in Mumbai that belonged to Cheykin, one of them the one where they explosion had been. Tony had hacked some military satellite and they had found a group of cars driving in a direction fast, as if they were hunting somebody. Like Tony said:

„Legolas got company."

Natasha and Pepper were still in New York, watching things over the big screen and, like promised, on the com. Right now Pepper was talking to the chief of the Mumbai police, obviously the guy was an old friend of her (really, was there anybody that woman didn't know?).

Bruce was nervous. There would be a fight, he was sure, and he didn't know how to deal with it. Sure, he fought in New York, or the rather: the Hulk fought in New York, but it hadn't been planned. It had been a spur of the moment thing. Now, here, he had time to prepare himself for what was coming. And it made him nervous.

* * *

Clint sighed in relief. He had finally made it to the extraction place. He hadn't had contact with his handler during the mission, but he surely would wait here, wouldn't he?

Nothing. An empty street. Only a little piece of paper.

_This is for what you did to my sister._

Clint didn't know if he should laugh or cry. But when a bullet hit the wall right next to his head, he decided to run first.

* * *

„John McKennan... McKennan... of course!" Natasha exclaimed.

Pepper looked at her questioningly.

„He … his sister was a SHIELD-agent. Actually she was his half-sister... unimportant. She was a rookie, and she had a monster crush on Clint. It's been... about six years now? Her name was Bobbi. Bobbi Morse. She pulled a few strings so she would be sent on a mission with Clint. The mission was nothing for a rookie, and she blew their cover within 10 minutes. In the following fire-fight she was killed. Clint still visits her grave from time to time. McKennan blames him for her death, I think."

„As if there weren't already enough problems. Guys" Pepper spoke into the com. „The handler thinks Clint is responsible for his little sisters death. Don't expect help from him. But the good news is that the police will help you. The chief promised me to tell his officers not to arrest Clint, but to help him against those guards."

* * *

„Two miles east from here." Tony announced.

„Let's go!" Steve said, already in his suit and the shield in his hands.

„He keeps moving. He isn't going to be there anymore when we arrive." Bruce said.

„Just follow the sound of gunfire." Natasha's voice came over the coms.

* * *

Clint dove to cover when another round of bullets were fired. He reloaded his gun and cursed when it nearly slid out of his hand. A while ago a bullet had hit him the shoulder, forcing him to lay the bow down because, well, he couldn't fire an arrow with just one arm. Now blood was dripping on the gun in his good hand, but he didn't care.

Suddenly he saw a flash of red and gold, and a moment later there was Captain America, only a few metres away from him. Relief flooded his mind.

Then two bullets caught him in the gut. He fell to the street, and while he saw Iron Man, the Hulk and Captain America fighting of the guards, everything faded into black.

* * *

**AN: Before you say anything: I never read the comics. I just read a few fanfics where Bobbi Morse is said to be a former lover, so I used her here. And I know, another cliffhanger. I hope you liked it, please tell me what you think!**

**PS: Twenty chapters, 173 reviews, 54 favourites and 100 follows! You guys are awesome. A big big thank you to everyone!**


	21. Chapter 21

Tony didn't like Mumbai. Not at all. And this army of enemies didn't make it any better. He fought together with Hulk and the Cap, all three trying to find Clint who should be somewhere near, considering the mass of guards.

There. Behind a bench. Why was there a bench? Not important. Important was only one thing: Clint stood there, firing a gun and looking pretty much alive. A guard attacked Tony from behind, but he just punched him in the nose. Then he looked back at Clint. And watched in horror as the archer was hit.

* * *

Steve saw Clint getting hit, too. He desperately looked around. There were too many enemies still attacking, he didn't know if he should fight them off first or go to his teammate. Suddenly, Pepper's voice came over the com.

„Steve, there's an empty apartment about 100 metres east from your position. You can take Clint there, you need to get him out of plain sight. Tony, cover them. The Hulk will distract them. One of our helicopters is on the way to pick you up, I told them to prepare their medical."

Steve listened, in awe of Pepper's organization skills, and then told the Hulk to go smash some bad guys. The Hulk answered with a loud roar. Taking this as confirmation that the order was understood, Steve grabbed Clint and carried him to the apartment Pepper had found for them. Far away he could hear police sirens. _At least some help is coming,_he thought. But then he saw the blood pooling out of Clint's gut and forgot everything else.

„The helicopter better be fast." He said while trying to stop the bleeding.

* * *

Natasha was frantically pacing through the livingroom. It was the total horror for her. Watching Clint getting hurt and knowing there was nothing she could do was about the worst situation she'd ever been in. She wished she'd be there, her trusty Berettas in her hands, and could shoot those idiots... but she was over thousand miles away, and all she could do was staring at the video and watching Pepper calling numerous people and every once in a while telling the team something.

She had said nothing since the fight started. She couldn't. All she could do was watching.

* * *

Suddenly Steve heard something, while the gunshots stopped. A helicopter.

„Come on, Clint, they're here. It's gonna be alright. Come on, wake up!" He murmured, than the docs were there, taking Clint and carrying him to the helicopter. The street looked like a war zone, but the guards seemed to have given up. Bruce was already normal again, while Tony had put down the mask of his suit.

While they all went on the helicopter, they watched the medics fussing around Clint. None of them said it, but the archer didn't look good.

* * *

Two hours later, they were on a plane towards New York. Clint had nearly crashed two times, but now he was stable enough for the transport. He was unconscious, but alive. Bruce knew that this was nearly a miracle. As a doctor, he knew how close it had been, and he knew that Clint wasn't out of the woods just yet. They were on the fastest way to the SHIELD-hospital in New York, where they had the best doctors.

It was kind of ironic: The helicopter had belonged to Stark Industries, and the whole thing had been only half legal, but now, when they had finished it, they were flying a SHIELD-jet. He'd never understand the council. But he was going to have a serious talk with them. And he had the feeling Steve and Tony would stand right next to him when he did so.

* * *

Pepper was alone in the livingroom. Natasha had gone to the gym, probably shooting something. Pepper hadn't stopped her. It calmed the assassin down and that was what the woman needed right now. Also, Pepper wanted to have the livingroom for herself for this call.

On the screen, the members of the council appeared.

„What do you want, Ms. Potts?" One of them asked.

„After New York, I was the nice girl. I played along, acted like I didn't know what you tried to do. This is going to stop now." She said sternly.

„Is this a threat?" Another council member asked.

Pepper let out an unhappy chuckle. (Everybody who knew her would have started trying to find out what he did wrong and apologizing for it right now, hoping not to have to face her full wrath, but the council didn't know her, so they just stared at her.)

„If something like this ever happens again, I'll tell the president about the New York thing. Oh yes, I know he doesn't know the full story. And the Brits won't be happy when I tell them about the fiasco you caused in Cornwall." She smiled sweetly (As Tony could tell, her most dangerous smile).

„This was a threat. I think you see the difference." She said into their shocked faces. None of them said anything.

„Make sure it doesn't happen again." She said before disconnecting the call.

„Impressive." Nick Fury said on the other screen.

„Somebody had to tell them." She shrugged.

„I took care of McKennan. He isn't going to work in any governmental institution anymore."

„Good." Pepper just said.

„Are you sure you don't want to work for SHIELD? How you handled the situation in Mumbai... You could be a great handler." Fury asked.

„I already am the inofficial handler of the Avengers. And I rather not have to answer to this idiots from the council. So, thank you, but no thank you."

Fury smiled. The respect he had for the redheaded woman was evident in his eyes.

* * *

**AN: As you probably all realized by now, I'm a huge Pepper fan. So sue me, but I like it. Tell me what you think!**


	22. Chapter 22

Natasha sat next to Clint. They were in a SHIELD hospital in New York and he hadn't woken up till now. The doc told her the surgery went fine, but it still didn't feel good to see him in this white bed, in a white room that screamed hospital.

Natasha had never liked hospitals. Actually, she hated them with passion. Hospital meant hurt, tragedy and death to her. She and Clint only went to the hospital when they were really injured, so when she was here, she was always either lying in the bed or sitting next to it, holding her partner's hand.

Just like now. She had taken his hand in hers. It was rough and calloused, but warm and so familiar. His hand was like him. Banged up, with a hard cover, but with a good heart.

Suddenly, he stirred. She looked up from his hand and watched as he opened his eyes. Slowly, carefully he looked around. Then his eyes found her and he relaxed.

„Hey, Beautiful." He whispered.

„Hey yourself." She answered with a smile.

„Sorry 'bout this. I know I promised not to get hurt." Natasha smirked. It was a tradition they had: Before each solo mission, they promised each other not to get hurt. This promise was broken more times than any of them bothered to count, but still, it was a tradition they shared. And they did always hold onto traditions.

„Not your fault." She answered.

„What exactly happened? It was supposed to be easy." He asked.

„It was a set-up. Council knew Cheykin was involved. It..."

„They wanted to test my loyalty." Clint deduced.

„Yes." Natasha said, only barely controlling her anger. Not at Clint, at the council. What the hell did those guys think? They had very nearly killed Clint, just to test him.

„Don't kill them, okay?" Natasha chuckled, against her will. Clint always knew what to say.

„One of those days I will."

„Not for me. Don't ever risk yourself for me like that. Please." He said, and finally, Natasha leaned closer to him. Clint cupped her face with one hand and then kissed her. It was a soft, loving kiss, a kiss that was full of emotion, but still very tender.

„I would do anything for you Clint, you know that."

She looked into his stormy blue eyes, and after a moment, he said:

„I know, Tasha. And you know that I would do anything for you. I love you."

„I love you, too." She said, completely serious. Then she stood up from her chair and lay down in his bed with him. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and she lay her head on his chest. Then he kissed her head and both of them fell asleep.

* * *

Outside the room, the Avengers were arguing.

„We can't let the council get away with this." Bruce said

„This was one step to far. definitely. But they are our superiors. What can we do?" Steve asked, always the soldier.

„I could hack them." Tony said. It was meant to be a joke, but the others could see how angry he really was at the people who had nearly killed Clint.

„And they are not my superiors." He added after a moment.

„And what do you want to do when you hacked them? Send them mails? You can't put lives at risk just to prove a point." Bruce said.

„You're right. Still. What do we do?" Tony asked. Steve wanted to say something, but was interrupted by a voice from behind.

„They won't do something like that again." Fury had somehow managed to sneak up on them.

„Sure, Eyepatch? I thought the same thing after New York." Tony challenged.

„I'm pretty sure."

„What did you do?" Bruce asked.

„I? I did nothing." On the questioning look the others send him, he smiled.

„The council learned the hard way why I prefer to stay on Ms. Potts good side."

A smile broke on Tony's face. Steve and Bruce smirked.

„She had a little talk with them?" Tony asked.

„Yes. She should be here soon, she was just making a few calls. Really a shame I can't get her to work for me."

„In your dreams!" Tony said.

Then the door opened and Pepper walked in. She took in everything in one glance and then asked:

„How is he?"

„He'll be okay." Bruce said.

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the long wait. And I know, not much action in this one. Tell me what to think!**


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: So sorry for the long wait! **

* * *

Clint stayed in the hospital for two weeks. The docs wanted him to stay longer, but by now they knew him and they knew there was no sense in it. After they had the Avengers and Pepper promising them they would make sure Clint rested, they let him go.

Two days after Clint's release, he and Natasha got married.

It was a small celebration, only their closest friends (aka the Avengers, Pepper, Maria Hill and Fury) were invited.

Currently, Natasha was in her room, with Pepper and Maria. Her pregnancy started showing, so she couldn't wear something to tight, but the dress she had chosen looked just wonderful. It was a simple white dress, long, but not to fancy. And exactly that was what made her look absolutely beautiful, Pepper and Maria had.

„You look stunning!" Pepper exclaimed when Natasha had finally managed to put it on.

„You think?" Natasha asked, blushing slightly.

(She blamed the damn hormones. The Black Widow does not, under any circumstances, blush. Never.)

„Definitifly." Maria said. She was a bit … wary might not be the right word, nervous neither... It was just that Maria didn't have family. And even though she worked pretty closely together with the Avengers and especially Natasha and Clint, it still felt awkward for her to be on this wedding, when there were only so few people invited. But she had decided to go with it, because she really needed a day off. And well, she was allowed to bring a plus one, as was Steve, and figuring they both did not really have a love life or even a social life outside the Avengers tower, they had decided to go as each others plus one. It was no date, both had made that clear, it was just... not showing up alone. When Bruce did show up alone, they felt somehow guilty. (Fury came alone, too, but nobody had expected him to bring anybody.)

And now she was standing here, in the dress room, with the bride, and somehow managed to feel completely in the wrong place and as if there was no place she'd rather be at once. It was a strange feeling.

* * *

In another room, Clint was trembling. Only slightly, but still. He was extremely nervous, and he didn't know what to do with himself. It wasn't like that night in Budapest, this was... it was real. Yeah, that was the best way to describe it. Budapest had felt like a dream. This here was real, official and everything.

Next to him were his friends. Tony, Steve and Bruce. Fury wasn't in here, which he was kind of happy about. It would have felt weird to have his boss here.

The wait was the worst. He looked to the clock about every ten seconds, hoping it would be time to go outside. Bruce and Steve stood awkwardly in a corner, neither of them knowing what to do or say. Tony was his usual annoying self, but today it was somehow calming to Clint.

* * *

Fury sat outside both rooms. His phone rang and he smirked. On every other day, he would have picked up, but today he just turned it off. It was a special day. His two best agents were going to get married. Even despite shouting at them (or, rather, Clint) when he found out, he was happy for them. They deserved their happy ending.

(When asked, he would deny everything. Of course.)

Finally, it was time to go. The celebration would held in a quiet little chapel that belonged to an equally quiet little town somewhere in California. They had chosen this city because A) nobody knew them here (really, the inhabitants hadn't even recognized Tony!) and B) it was close to the sea. Both Clint and Natasha loved the sea, it meant freedom to them, and so this place was just perfect.

Fury knocked on the womans door and took Natasha's arm.

* * *

Clint stood in front of the priest and waited for Natasha. In the first row (the only row where guests sat) were Tony, Bruce and Steve.

Finally, the door opened. First, Pepper and Maria came in, in their blue bridesmaid dresses. Maria sat next to Steve, while Pepper came to him. He and Natasha had asked her to be their best man (or rather woman) which she happily agreed to.

Then, the door opened again. The organ played the wedding march and there was Natasha. Fury walked her down the aisle, but Clint barely registered him. Natasha looked absolutely stunning in the simple white dress.

In this two weeks he lay in the hospital and planned the wedding with Natasha, he had imagined this moment very often. But now he found that the reality was so much better than any daydream could ever be.

* * *

„... and will you, Natalia Alianova Romanoff, take Clinton Francis Barton to your rightful husband, will you love him and cherish him for the rest of your life?"

Natasha looked into Clint's warm, blue-grey eyes, and smiled. She had long ago decided that this was the man she wanted to spent her life with, and now finally they were making it official.

„I do."

It seemed like only seconds ago she left the dressing room. The time from walking down the aisle with Fury (she would rather have like Coulson to do this, but Coulson wasn't here anymore, she thought with a sting of hurt) until standing here now, saying this words, had passed in a blur. A very happy blur.

* * *

„You may kiss the bride now."

Tasha looked so happy. Clint was incredibly happy, too. This was their day. After shortly looking into her eyes, he kissed her. It was a sweet, loving kiss, tender and short, but filled with the emotions of this day. Behind them, their friends began clapping.

* * *

**AN: Yeah, very fluffy. But I still hope you like it =)**

**One question: Some of you asked for other relationships. I've been thinking of getting a girl for Steve. Do you want him with Maria or rather with an OC?**

**Tell me what you think!**


	24. Chapter 24

Clint and Natasha spent their honeymoon in the same little city they married in.

It was quiet and unspectacular, but that was just what they had wanted. They had seen the world. They had visited all the important places, many times, and were used to extravagant living standards. But for their honeymoon, they wanted something different. Something like the quiet little city next to the sea.

They had rented a small bungalow at the beach. There were only four rooms, a bedroom, a livingroom, a kitchen and a bath, but you could hear the sea from the bed and they were just far enough from the town that nobody would disturb them.

After a week, they went to Tony's Malibu mansion. It was the date Tony and Pepper choose to get married.

* * *

Pepper was sitting in her room, surrounded by Natasha and Maria. She wore long white dress with long sleeves.

Natasha had made her hair. The russian had proven incredible skills in that point. When asked, she had just shrugged.

Maria was taking pictures. She was more comfortable now than a week ago, knowing better what to expect and what not. She was here with Steve again, and again it was no date. It was strange. After years without a real relationship, years of one-night-stands and dates she forgot or the other one never showed up for here she was in a situation that was nearly like a date – and somehow completely different. She liked Steve. As a friend. Not more, but not less either.

* * *

The wedding was different from the wedding a week before. First of all, it didn't happen in a church. Pepper and Tony had chosen the garden of the Malibu mansion as the place they were going to get married. Also, there was one extra visitor, Tony's old friend Rhodey.

Rhodey and Tony knew since they shared a room at the MIT and over the years, he and Pepper had always been co-conspirators in the operation 'Keep Tony from doing too stupid things'. The other Avengers knew Rhodey, he had come over a few times . unsurprisingly (and much to Tony's dismay) the military man got along best with Steve.

Because Peppers father had died a few years ago, Rhodey walked her down the aisle. He was also her and Tony's best man, while Natasha was the maid of honour.

The ceremony was short and beautiful, and the whole time Tony had only eyes for the stunning woman right in front of him. He kept thinking that he didn't deserve her, that he didn't deserve such a perfect woman like Pepper (not that there were any woman who were like Pepper, she was unique), but other than in the past, that didn't scare him. Instead, he promised himself that even though he might not deserve her, he would work every day for the rest of his life to become the man that deserved her.

When he kissed her, he wished he could stop the world. He wanted to stay in this moment, maybe forever. But then they parted, the world started turning again, and he decided that that was also okay.

* * *

Unlike Natasha and Clint, Tony and Pepper spent their honeymoon in a more public place. They went to Venice.

Pepper had made sure the media didn't get what was going on, so they weren't bothered while they walked through the streets, enjoyed boat rides through the canals and ate pizza. For once, they weren't Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, the CEO's of Stark Industries, but only Tony and Pepper, two honeymooners in Venice.

* * *

After a way too short week they flew back home.

It was like before, and somehow so different at the same time. They were married now. Right after they got back they decided not to keep it quiet. The media would find out anyway, so there was no sense in playing hide and seek. On the next press conference, two days after they got back, they wore their rings. At first nobody noticed, but then a young journalist calmly asked when they had gotten married and the room nearly exploded while the other journalists got it as well.

* * *

A few days later, they were all sitting together in the livingroom.

„I have an idea." Tony said suddenly. Instantly, Natasha, Pepper and Steve groaned while Clint and Bruce looked up with interest.

„We should get Thor to live with us."

„And how do you want to do this? We can't exactly call him." Bruce said.

„He has a girlfriend in New Mexico." Clint put in.

Bruce and Steve were suprised, but Natasha, Pepper and Tony nodded.

(Natasha knew from Clint while Tony had just hacked SHIELD and Pepper had read the file over his shoulder)

„We could ask her if she wants to come here. We need another woman in this tower." Pepper put in.

„Why should she do this?" Steve asked.

„Well, first, this is one of the few places where it is likely that Thor will show up." Natasha said.

„And second I own a big lab. She's an astrophysicist, and a really good one I might add. Maybe you've read some of her works, Bruce. Her name is Jane Foster." Tony meant.

„Jane Foster? Actually, yes, I read some things from her. We should just ask her, I think."

* * *

Two days later, Jane Foster opened her door to see Tony Stark standing outside.

„Hello, Dr. Foster. I want to offer you something."

* * *

**AN: Thanks for the overwhelming response to the last chapter! Momentarily it's 9 votes Maria and 4 votes OC. I'm not entirely sure yet, so I just bring in somebody else...**

**I hope you liked it!**


	25. Chapter 25

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update! Life was crazy =(**

* * *

_Two days later, Jane Foster opened her door to see Tony Stark standing outside._

„_Hello, Dr. Foster. I want to offer you something."_

* * *

Jane didn't really know what to think. Yes, she was kind of used to impossible things by now (cough the nordic god of thunder falling from the sky cough) but Tony Stark on her doorstep? That was a whole new level of craziness.

Yet he stood there, obviously waiting for her to say something. She took a deep breath and said:

„Good Morning, Mr. Stark."

„Good Morning, Dr. Foster. So, you are agreeing? Good, I'm gonna send Happy to pick up your stuff."

„You didn't even say what you are offering." Jane answered, a bit taken aback by his fast assumptions.

„Isn't that obvious? I'm asking you to come over to Stark tower. You're an astrophysicists believe me, my labs are candyland. And, I should add, Bruce and I work on a way to get Point Break there."

„Point Break?" Jane was extremely confused, and wondered how anyone could put up with this guy. This Bruce had to had the patience of a saint.

„Thor. Big blonde dud with a hammer and a red cape. SHIELD files say you two have met. And, like I said, Bruce and me work on a way to at least contact him."

At that, Darcy showed up behind Jane. The girl lived with Jane, because well, it was way cheaper for Darcy and Jane liked to have company.

„Cool. What about me?" She asked.

„Of course you're invited to come as well. Bruce and I were already searching for a lab assistant, by the way."

„Darcy belongs to me, clear? But about your offer … I work in SHIELD labs. Are you sure you can compete with that?"

„If I … If I can compete with SHIELD? OF COURSE I can. I hack them on a daily basis, and where do you think they got the most of their fancy toys from? Exactly. Me. And I keep the best things for my own lab."

Darcy smiled to Jane and asked:

„Sounds cool. Who else lives there?"

„Well, me, my wife Pepper, Bruce, Legolas, Natalie and Capsicle."

Jane looked questioning, she had about no idea who the guy meant, but Darcy was grinning.

„So we're gonna live with all the Avengers? So cool! Let's do it, Jane!"

* * *

Needless to say, the next morning all Avengers including Pepper waited in the livingroom to meet the two new residents. Jane still wasn't sure about the whole thing, but Darcy seemed totally happy about it so she decided to go along with it. At least for now.

It was a bit awkward to walk into the tower. Darcy seemed at her best, ogling at the technologies and chatting with JARVIS as if she had never been anywhere else, but Jane was still stunned by the fact that she was here. Then, they came to the livingroom.

Jane would never forget the sight she was greeted with. On the couches sitting were five people. To her right was a clearly pregnant redhead, who Jane remembered to have seen in some magazine a while ago. She smiled at them and Tony went to her to peck her, so Jane assumed she was his wife. On the next couch where two men. One of them, a black-haired middle aged guy seemed familiar and then Jane remembered that she met him on a science convention years ago. His name was... Banner. Dr. Bruce Banner. She had always wondered what had happened to him. He smiled shyly at her, clearly recognizing her, too. She smiled a bit, too. Next to him was a young, blond man that seemed to scream military. She remembered Stark mentioning a 'Capsical', so, she realized with a shock, this was most probably Captain America. On her left where to people on the third couch, a blond guy that seemed familiar, even though she couldn't place him and a stunning redhead. They were curled together in a way that made it pretty clear that they were a couple.

„Guys, this are Dr. Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis." Tony introduced themselves

The military guy stood up.

„Steve Rogers, Ma'ams. Nice to meet you." Jane shook the offered hand and just nodded. (Because well, you don't meet CAPTAIN AMERICA everyday, do you?)

Dr. Banner was the next one.

„Dr. Foster, nice to see you again. And nice to meet you, Ms. Lewis."

Jane smiled and answered.

„Yes, nice to see you, too. I missed you on the Med-convention last year." (**AN: Don't know if anything like this exists. I'm totally just making something up)**

„I was … busy." He answered. Jane decided to not ask why.

Tony's wife smiled up at her.

„Nice to meet you. I'm Pepper. Tony's wife. It's definitively good to have more women in here, Natasha and I were a bit overrun by the men."

„It's very nice we can come here, Mrs. Stark." Jane answered.

„No problem, like I said, it's good to have you here. And it's just Pepper." Jane immediately liked the woman.

The last ones were the couple to Jane's left. Both stood up and only now Jane realized that the second redhead was also pregnant. Probably about as far along as Pepper, she guessed.

„Clint Barton." The man said. Jane still didn't know where she met him, but …

„You were the SHIELD agent that was watching us! You stole my Ipod!" Darcy clearly did.

„Yeah, sorry about that." He smirked, or was it a smile?

The redhead next to him just offered a hand and said:

„Natasha Romanoff."

After the introduction there was an awkward silence. Suddenly, Tony said:

„Let's do some science!"

* * *

**AN: Not so sure about this chapter. I'm gonna try to update more frequently, but I can't promise it. I hope you liked it though and please tell me what you think!**


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: First of, I'm so sorry for the delay! I'm kind of in stress because of school... but I'll really try to update more often! Anyway, I hope you like this.**

* * *

„_Let's do some science!"_

Darcy groaned. Everyone looked at her questioning, until she looked up, shook her head and said:

„You do know that once Jane started we won't be able to get her out of the lab anymore?"

* * *

Two weeks later and Darcy's prediction had proven true. Jane and Bruce spent a really, really unhealthy amount of time in the lab (even Pepper said that, and she was used to Tony's antics) (Tony always looked at the lab longingly, but after he didn't show up in the living area for over two days directly after the two women had moved in Pepper had dragged him out of the lab and then 'talked' to him. It was more shouting and screaming at him than talking and he immediately got the message.). Darcy had simply continued doing what she always did only that now she didn't only take care of Jane but of Bruce also. She brought them food and coffee, went through their notes and tried to at least make it look like there was an order behind the way the papers were sorted and generally played babysitter. Jane and Bruce both had their own labs, but mostly they sat together in the big one and just worked side by side. Tony was allowed a max of five hours a day here and he always fully used it.

One particularly quiet evening Pepper and Natasha were both sitting in the livingroom reading and Clint and Steve played chess (While Clint was recovering from his injuries from the Mumbai mission, they had found out they both loved the game and had started playing regularly. The games were very interesting, heated matches (if you understood anything about chess what, to be true, in the whole tower only Pepper did)(she sometimes joined them, but it's kind of difficult to play chess when you are three guys)(she was really good, too) that could go for hours) while Jane, Darcy, Bruce and Tony were in the lab.

Suddenly, there was a loud BOOM! and it felt like the whole building was shaking. All heads shot up and for a moment, they just stared at the ceiling. Pepper was the first to speak:

„JARVIS, what was this?"

„There was an explosion in the lab, Mrs. Stark. I believe it was caused by an experiment of Mr. Stark, Dr. Banner and Dr. Foster."

„Is anyone injured?" Steve asked.

„I'm sorry. My sensors in the lab are destroyed so I cannot give you the information you asked for."

They shared a worried glance before jumping up and running towards the elevator. Natasha and Pepper were slower than the rest, but Steve made sure the elevator didn't leave without them.

* * *

Arriving down in the lab at first all they saw was smoke and dust. Pepper and Natasha, the last ones to enter the elevator, were the first ones to step out. Both Steve and Clint quietly cursed themselves for not thinking about that. The two woman apparently didn't see any danger and just moved inside the room. The smoke still hadn't cleared, so they didn't see anything.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar followed by a flash of green. Natasha immediately reacted, grabbed Pepper and dragged her back towards the elevator while Clint and Steve stepped out to shield the two women with their bodies if necessary. They saw the Hulk running towards them, making his way through the lab equipment as if it wasn't there. He was getting really close, but Clint didn't panick. He didn't even seem to notice. Instead he pulled out a bow from god knows where (later he told them he always kept one hidden inside the elevator. At Pepper's and Steve's shocked faces he just shrugged and said „Better safe than sorry") and carefully aimed an arrow at the Hulk. When the 'other guy', like Bruce liked to refer to him, was only a few foot away from him, he released the arrow. It hit the Hulk in the eye and he immediately went down. Pepper and Steve stared at Clint, who nodded reassuring and said:

„Tranquilizer arrows. Bruce and Tony made them a while ago so we have a way to take the Hulk out if he ever goes against us."

While he spoke, the Hulk already changed back to Bruce, who was lying on the floor, naked and unconscious but seemingly unharmed. From farther behind in the lab they could hear somebody coughing and all four of them ran towards the noise.

They found Tony, Jane and Darcy covered in dust, but definitively less injured than you would assume after an explosion like this. Jane and Tony where already standing, but when Darcy tried to stand up, she immediately collapsed back on the floor with a pained expression on her face.

„Damn. My ankle hurts." She muttered.

Jane quickly leaned down towards her, but Steve was there before her, easily lifting Darcy in his arms.

„Are you guys okay?" Clint asked.

Both Tony and Jane nodded. Pepper, now reassured that Tony would live, stared at him angrily. He winced under her burning gaze. He knew he was in trouble. She hated it when he got in danger and her being pregnant definitively didn't help that matter.

„But... how? After this explosion... the whole lab is destroyed!" Natasha asked.

„The Hulk shielded us. For some reason Bruce turned about a second before the explosion and dragged us into this corner." Tony said.

„Where is he, anyway?" Darcy asked.

„Shot him with one of those tranquilizers." Clint shrugged.

* * *

Two hours later, they sat in the livingroom. Tony shared a couch with Pepper, who didn't want to let go of him but also made it clear that she was still angry at him. Darcy had her ankle (it was badly sprained) wrapped up and crutches next to her seat, while Jane sat right next to her. Both Jane and Tony had tried to explain the experiment but had been waved of by the others. Bruce sat in a corner, apologizing for what felt like the thousandth time. Tony finally had enough.

„Bruce. Stop it. This explosion would have killed us all if the other guy hadn't shown up. The Hulk. Saved. Our. Lives. You don't need to apologize!"

„I could have hurt Pepper and Natasha down there!" The doctor answered.

„That's why you gave me those tranquilizers, remember? Stop feeling bad for it. Nothing happened." Clint said.

„Darcy's ankle is sprained!"

„I don't want to know how it would have looked like if you hadn't shielded me from that explosion, doc. Get it. You saved my life. There is nothing you have to apologize for." Darcy cut in, annoyance clearly on her face.

Bruce still didn't look convinced, but way better than before.

* * *

Later in the night Clint woke up from Natasha turning and muttering. _A nightmare_, he thought. He carefully placed a hand on her shoulder and shook her. While doing this, he murmured soothing things like he always did when she had nightmares. Finally, she shot up, eyes wide open and searching for a threat that was only in her imagination. He carefully pulled her in a hug, trying to calm her down while she was shaking uncontrollable. After a while, she looked up at him.

„Sorry." She muttered.

„No need to be sorry." He said.

„I woke you up."

„No problem. What was it about?" He asked carefully. She might be the Black Widow and she might seem like she feared nothing, but he knew that wasn't true. She was still human.

„It was … him. The Hulk. Chasing me. On the helicarrier. But somehow... Thor didn't show up to save me and suddenly we were in the lab and..." She started shaking again.

„Shhh, it's alright. He can't hurt you." He murmured soothingly.

„I feel like I'm being unfair. Bruce is such a nice guy and... but today, in the lab, I was scared to death."

„Hey. It's okay to be afraid of the Hulk. I'm afraid, too. But he won't attack you. You are safe. Believe me, I wouldn't let anybody harm you."

„I know."

* * *

**AN: A bit angsty here in the end. I kind of think that the Hulk is one of Natasha's worst nightmares because she can't beat him. Tell me what you think!**


	27. Chapter 27

**AN: First of, I'm so sorry it took so long! I'm kind of in stress because of school and … yeah. I'll try to update sooner, but I can't promise.**

* * *

After the Hulk incident Bruce was incredible quiet whenever he was with the others. He still blamed himself for what could have happened regardless all tries to talk him out of it. He avoided them, fearing for what he might do to them. The others tried to get him to join them when they die things together, but he was to ashamed of what happened to do it.

During the incident in the lab, Darcy had badly sprained her ankle. Pepper (used to the smaller injuries Tony always got from working in the lab) had ordered her to rest a few days, and all the Avengers made sure she really did. Most times, she sat in the livingroom, reading something or watching TV with at least one other Avenger. She was a fun person to be around, always up for a prank. (She was always the mastermind. Clint and Tony had been shell shocked to find out just how good she was at that. Even more it shocked them that she always managed to make it look like she had no participation in the pranks when they were caught.)

They had just settled into the routine when it one day suddenly started raining in the livingroom.

* * *

„Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih"

„What the hell...?"

„ANTHONY EDWARD STARK! DID YOU DO THIS?!"

„How is this even possible?"

A mix of voices flew through the room, all of them were absolutely confused by the fact that it was _raining in the livingroom._

„MY DEAR FRIENDS!" A loud and very familiar voice boomed.

„Thor!" Jane shouted and ran towards him, falling into his arms.

„Lady Jane!"

The blonde god gently pulled her into a hug, very adamant about making sure she was not hurt by his strength. Then he looked around, a bright smile on his face.

„Friend Tony! Friend Hawk! Lady Natasha! Lady Darcy! It's good to see you all healthy and happy!" He said, way louder than necessary. They smiled at him, mentally debating wether or not they should ask him to stop the rain that was still falling and slowly soaking the furniture.

„It's nice to finally meet you, Thor. My name is Pepper, I'm Tony's wife. Would you mind to stop the rain? We're soaked." Pepper said, as usually completely in control of the situation.

„My Lady Pepper! It's a pleasure to meet you. Of course I can stop the rain. But where is friend Bruce?" Thor asked, looking around searchingly.

„Probably still in the lab. JARVIS, tell Bruce Point Break is here!" Tony said.

„Of course, sir." JARVIS answered.

Thor looked around, now genuily confused.

„Who is this who hides from me?" He asked.

„Ah... Thor, this is JARVIS. He is no …. human, he is a machine. Actually he is an artificial intelligence" Thor looked even more confused „but I don't think that you understand what that is. Just keep in mind JARVIS is a machine. Say hi to Thor, JARVIS." Clint said.

„Hello, Mr. Odinson. I will gladly offer my assistance whenever you need my help." The AI replied.

Thor looked around again.

„But where is he? I can't see him?" He asked confused.

„Well, he is … everywhere. He is no human, Thor, he has no body. He is a computer." Jane tried to explain it. (Try explaining an artificial intelligence to a god. You'll fail just as miserably as they did).

„Hello Thor." Bruce said from the door, momentarily distracting the god from JARVIS.

„Friend Bruce!" Thor said smiling.

„Just a question, Blondie: How did you get here exactly? We were trying to contact you, but we never succeeded." Tony asked.

„My father and I spend many hours restoring the Bifrost. Now it's functioning again and I can travel easily." Thor said.

„Well, welcome to the Avengers tower! I hope you'll like it here." Pepper said smiling.

* * *

Later in the evening, when they all had calmed down and most of them had gotten back into their rooms, only Darcy and Bruce were left in the livingroom.

„Listen, Darcy, I wanted to apologize..."

„Shut it, Bruce. I told you and I tell you again: The other guy saved my life in there. A sprained ankle is nothing. Now come down from your guilt-trip, I'll need your help in keeping Tony's madness under control when he is in the lab. I have the sneaking suspicion that I won't see so much of Jane in the next days."

„I could hurt you."

„No. You would never hurt us. And the other guy probably thinks of us as friends. Don't run away from us because of this. I mean, think of it. You theoretically hurt us, but so could our living legend, or the man in the tin can, or our two resident masterassassins, or our newest addition to the family: Thor, the freaking god of thunder! You all could theoretically hurt me. But I know you won't. End of the story. Now do you maybe have a spare bed in your room? You know I live with Jane, but there is no way I'm going anyway near her apartment now."

Bruce chuckled, finally relaxing a bit.

„I think we can arrange something."

* * *

**AN: So, finally, Thor is there. I hope you liked it. Tell me what else you want to see! And, remember to review. Reviews make me smile =)**


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: Sorry, this took way longer than I thought... I hope you still like it =)**

* * *

It took a few days to get used to living with Thor, and even longer until Thor didn't try to blow up JARVIS anymore every time the AI spoke (Even though he still always looked around disorientated and tried to find out where 'this creature' was. Darcy stayed with Bruce ever since she first asked him. Both Tony and Pepper had offered her an own apartment, but Darcy always said she liked being around people and so it stayed this way.

Also, Darcy had kind of taking on scientist-sitting duties after Jane wasn't in the lab for so long times anymore (She actually spent most of her time in her quarters with Thor. Nobody wanted to know what exactly they did in there). Darcy would drag Bruce out of the lab every evening to make sure he at least got a bit sleep, bring him food and she mostly even managed to get him to come out of the lab for lunch. Lunch became a rite for the whole team, the one time were all of them were sitting together and talking and having fun. (Once Darcy had exchanged the salt with sugar. It had been absolutely hilarious, especially when Pepper and Natasha blamed Clint and Tony. The two men had kept shooting angry glares in her direction, but Darcy had just smiled and said nothing.)

* * *

Both Natasha and Pepper were seven month along now, and they got really moody sometimes. Especially Natasha, usually so calm, lost it more than once most days.

"Где, черт возьми, мои яблоки?! Я написал ее в этом списке! Получите мне, теперь, Клинт, или, клянусь, к черту я закончу Вас!" (Where the hell are my apples?! I wrote it on that list! Get me some, now, Clint, or I swear to hell I'll end you!)

Clint nothing but ran from their rooms, desperately trying to figure out where he should get apples from. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice Darcy until they bumped into each other.

"Oh, come on, Clint, my ankle still isn't healed! Did you just have to run into me?!" The brunette asked annoyed. Then she took a good look at Clint and asked:

"You look distressed. What's the matter?"

"Nat … is in a bad mood. And … she wants apples. Do you know where I could get apples from?"

"Ah... no, but I've got an idea!" She suddenly grinned.

"Why do I have the feeling that your idea will make her even more angry?" Clint asked warily.

"No no no, she'll love it. I have made this tasty somethings in the lab together with Bruce. It can taste like anything you want and if you tell her it's and apple she won't even notice!"

"I think it will be kind of obvious if it doesn't look like an apple?"

"Dammit, I didn't think about that. Of course! You bake muffins and tell her it's with apples! Women love it when men do such things for them!" Darcy smiled brightly, also she was still sitting on the floor.

"You do know this is Natasha we talk about?" Clint asked.

"Oh, come on, she's still a woman. And if you look at me, I am also a woman. I know such things. Trust me!"

"This is not one of your pranks?" Clint was still wary.

"No no no, I really just want to help. Now help me up, then I show you."

* * *

Meanwhile, Steve was at an art exhibition. Art was one of the many things he missed and he tried to catch up really hard. He still wasn't completely sure what to make out of this expressionism, he still love Renaissance art the most, but he absolutely loved the atmosphere in museums. So many people who shared his interest in art. Also, it was kind of strange because in his youth other boys had often teased him for his love in paintings. Now, here, the people he talked with were just as enthusiastic about it as he himself. (They didn't know he was Captain America. He tried to always keep his mask on during battles so nobody would recognize him on the street.)

He walked along the gallery, taking in as much of the art as possible, when he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"I didn't know you were a friend of Picasso."

Steve turned around to see Maria Hill. He smiled.

"Well, I love any art. You, on the other hand, I wouldn't have pecked as a fan of art in general."

"Oh, well, it's nice sometimes to see other things than just the job." She looked really lovely in a black pencil skirt and the red blouse. Her hair fell openly on her shoulders, something he hadn't seen since the wedding of Clint and Natasha. He suddenly felt his mouth go dry. She was not just lovely, she was beautiful.

"What do you think... would you come with me for a coffee later?" He asked nervously. He'd never been good with women.

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

Clint and Darcy had finally finished the muffins. They looked quite tasty and even smelled right.

"Look, it's perfect. She'll absolutely love you for this. Now bring them to her and remember who helped you and gave you this idea!"

Clint was still not sure, but played along. Darcy might be really right. He carefully knocked at the door and then went in. Natasha had obviously calmed down and now lay on the bed reading.

"Hey Nat."

"Hey Clint. Sorry about the yelling earlier. It's all those stupid hormones." She smiled apologetically at him.

"Hey, it's okay. Look, I made you some apple muffins." He showed her the muffins.

"Oh, Clint, this is so cute! Thank you!" She smiled genuinely and Clint felt safe enough to press a little kiss on her forehead.

Natasha grabbed one of the muffins and ate. Do you know the feeling when you spilled water on your computer or clicked the wrong buttons and suddenly it only say "Fatal Error"? That's exactly what Clint felt when he saw Natasha's face.

"What the hell is this? It tastes like shit! There are no apples in this. Clinton Francis Barton, what the hell did you do into this?!"

* * *

**AN: Yeah, Darcy and her ideas... Also, I used Google Translator for the russian bit. If it's wrong, don't blame me! I hope you liked it. Tell me what you think!**


	29. Chapter 29

**AN: Yeah, I'm back. A bit more action here!**

* * *

When Natasha hated, really hated, one thing, it was knowing Clint was in danger and she was by his side to have his back.

It had been in the middle of the night when JARVIS had woke her and Clint. Obviously HYDRA had build some kind of robots that now where attacking LA and the Avengers needed to intervene. Clint had groaned and mumbled something un-understandable, then kissed her forehead and told her he'd be back soon. That had been five hours ago.

Now, Natasha sat in the living room, together with Pepper, Jane and Darcy and watched the news anxiously. The city looked like a battle field (not that New York or any other city the Avengers had fought in looked any better afterwards). Natasha couldn't see Clint, but that wasn't unusual because the cameras never found him. Every now and then she saw an arrow hitting one of those robots and she knew it was him.

Pepper's eyes were glued to the TV. Natasha knew she was looking out for Tony. In his Iron Man suit he was easily to be seen and Pepper followed his every movement. Natasha also knew that Pepper hated this as much as she herself did, but was more used to it. After all, Pepper did this every single time Tony went out in the field. Sometimes the redheaded assassin thought that Pepper was much stronger than she herself was.

Bruce was easy to find as well. The 'green guy', how the press dubbed him, always leaving a path of destruction behind him. He was also the only one Natasha wasn't worried about. Like Bruce had told them, the Hulk was simply not able to die. Natasha caught Darcy looking at him and nothing else and if she wouldn't be so wrapped up in worry about Clint, she would start asking herself if there was something going on between the girl and the scientist.

Thor with his red cape and the big hammer and the lightning was flying through the screen. The Asgardian seemed to be doing fine, but with Thor it's always difficult to tell. Jane stared at him, without question hoping that he would come back to her in one piece.

Steve was more difficult to see. He fought a big group of robots and the red and blue of his suit only shone through a few times. He's commanding, but Natasha didn't know what he said. In the first months of her pregnancy, both Natasha and Pepper had insisted on having a com link open towards the team, but now, with both women eight month pregnant, the men had said they didn't want to stress them any further. Which is ridiculous, because they watched TV anyway and saw the whole thing. Deep down, Natasha knew this was a precaution in case things went really wrong, but they wouldn't. Couldn't. It would work out just fine.

* * *

Of course it didn't.

It happened when Maria thought the battle was finally over. It was not Clint this time, and it wasn't Tony or Thor either. It was Steve. From her position on the helicarrier she watched how he finally had room to breath, how he kept barking commands she couldn't hear, and then how in the next moment the whole street exploded.

She saw Tony and Thor flying there immediately, and all she knew was that she wanted to be down there. She saw the street when the smoke finally cleared, saw Steve lying on the floor. It hurt her almost physically to see his non-moving form. This sudden rush of emotions takes her completely by suprise. Of course she cared for Steve, he was after all an Avenger. And seemingly the only guy in New York who knew some things about art and didn't try to get her to sleep with him after the first date. Not that they had been on a date. They met on art exhibitions from time to time, and afterwards they mostly drank a coffee together and talked about the paintings they had just seen. Once he had called her to tell her there was an exhibition that could interest her and then they had gone together. But it had not been a date. He was simply a nice person to talk to, a real gentleman and … yeah. A really good friend.

Maria shouldn't be thinking so much. She should take control over the situation, bark some orders at some of the rookies in front of her, but it felt like her mind was swept completely clean. Nothing left. She tried to focus on her task but then gave up and used a trick her father had taught her before he passed away: Five seconds. She allowed herself five seconds of panic before starting to work again. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and started to count.

One

_What if he doesn't make it?_

Two

_He is not moving. Why isn't he moving?_

Three

_He doesn't even have a real armor or anything. Nothing to protect him._

Four

_He can't die. He isn't allowed to die. I forbid it. He isn't allowed to leave me. But Coulson wasn't allowed to leave either._

Five

_I need him to be okay. Please be okay, Steve. Please._

Maria opened her eyes again and concentrated on her task. Soon the clean-up was on their way, she got a few people to track down the creature of those robots (Even though she already knew who sent them. Really, those robots even had the HYDRA sign printed on them, but the Council always wanted everything in great detail. Stupid politicians.) and had her analysts calculate the damage the city took.

* * *

Half an hour later Maria stood in the medical wing. She was nervous and didn't want to show it. The Avengers were sitting there and Tony shot her a short look, but to her immense suprise said nothing.

She knew all of them just called their girls, telling them that they were okay, that Steve was and that it would be a late night. Smirking, Maria glanced at her watch. 6am. A really late night. She also knew that Steve and Bruce were the only Avengers who didn't have a girlfriend/wife, but Bruce had gotten quite close with Darcy so he had called her. Suddenly she wondered if Steve would have called her, if he would have been sitting here now, if he wouldn't have been injured...

This train of thoughts wasn't getting Maria anywhere, so she stopped it. He was a friend and yes, she cared for him. Anything else wasn't important in the moment.

Finally, the doctor came out.

"Captain Rogers suffered a concussion, five broken ribs and a broken wrist. He will have to rest, but the injuries are not life threatening." He said more, but Maria didn't listen anymore. Steve was going to be okay. Nothing else mattered to her in this moment, not even the fact that she would have to explain to Fury why she wasn't on the bridge right now.

* * *

**AN: So, I'm not sure about this chapter, but it's 1am here and I really want to post it this night, so I'll just hope you guys like it. Don't forget to review!**


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: 30 chapters! I never thought I'd make it this far! Thank you all for the amazing support! You guys are the best. Consider yourself hugged =)**

* * *

Steve hated being sick. Not that he was sick in the usual sense of that word. He was injured. But he even more hated how that sounded. Injured. When he had been a soldier back in the war, injured had often meant "as good as dead". He wasn't. He had a concussion, what made him feel dizzy, and a few broken ribs, but they already started to heal. He was a super soldier after all.

The whole team had been there when he woke up, complete with Maria in her uniform and Natasha, Jane, Darcy and Pepper via Skype. They had stayed for two hours, treating him as if he was made out of glass. Ultimately, he hadn't been able to stand it anymore and made them go. Bruce had said he would talk to the doctor so maybe Steve could come to the tower soon. Maria had excused herself somewhat awkwardly when Fury had called her to the bridge. Steve had been happy but a bit surprised she had come to visit him in first place. Sure they were friends, good friends even, but still... it was strange.

And now, six hours later, he was in his bed at home (it was kind of scary just how soon the Avengers Tower had become 'home') and read. He still felt that there was incredibly much that he missed and he tried to get to know these things as fast as possible. Right now he read "The Trial" by Franz Kafka, a European Author who had lived around the forties, in his times, but his works had only been published after his death. It was kind of depressing and confusing, but also very impressive. You needed to really concentrate on the book to understand anything, but Steve liked it.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Steve looked up, surprised, and saw Darcy coming towards him.

"You can't just sit in here! We have to celebrate!" She said.

"I'm … not healthy. I have to stay in bed, doctors orders. Also, why should we celebrate?" Steve asked.

"Well, for one, you guys have totally beaten the shit out of these robot thingies and two we have to celebrate your still alive. Yolo!"

"What?"

"Yolo. Oh come on, you have to know yolo. 'You only live once'? Please tell me you know that!"

Steve smirked. Sometimes it was really difficult to talk to Darcy. It was as if she spoke her own language.

"No, I don't recognize that phrase."

"Dude, you sound like someone from 70 years ago... which you totally are. Not the point. We really need to know on your knowledge about modern things."

"I'm actually doing that, you know." Steve pointed to his book.

"'The trial'? Really? That's way too depressing. You need to go out, have fun! Find a girl, start dating, all this stuff!"

"I'm quite happy with how things are right now." Steve stated. Darcy looked like she wanted to throw some snarky replie at him, but then JARVIS spoke.

"Ms. Lewis, Dr. Banner request you to come into his lab."

Darcy sighed.

"Okay. Tell him I'm on my way." Then she pointed a finger at Steve. "This discussion is not over!" and left the room.

* * *

Steve smiled and went back to read his book.

Tony was blissfully sleeping. Pepper loved looking at him when he was. He looked so peaceful, as if there was nothing in this world that could harm him. When the Avengers had gotten back from the helicarrier and it was clear that Steve could handle on his own, Pepper had dragged Tony to bed. He had been exhausted and nearly fell asleep instantly. She had smiled and curled up next to him, hoping to get at least a bit sleep before the day really started.

She had slept a few hours and would love to sleep more, but obviously her twins had decided that she had rested enough. She felt them kicking, and even though she was still tired, she loved to feel them, her kids. Pepper thought of getting up, but the bed was warm and comfortable and Tony was there right next to her so she decided to stay inside for a few more minutes.

Tony was still fast asleep. Pepper smiled. Tony had never been a light sleeper, but when he was exhausted like now a bomb could explode next to him and he would sleep on.

She massaged her belly. She still remembered the morning when she wanted to get ready for work and had to admit that none of her cloth had fit anymore. She had been near the edge of tears that day (she still blamed the hormones) and Tony had taken her into his arms and whispered soothing words in her ear, telling her she was incredibly beautiful and nothing would ever change that. Looking down her body now, Pepper smiled. She had grown since then. Her belly was really large now, larger than Natasha's, what was logical considering she was carrying twins but still felt strange.

Suddenly, one of the twins kicked harder than usual. She stroked her belly and murmured:

"Hey, you two, let me rest a moment, okay? I haven't slept this night and am really tired."

At her words, Tony stirred and opened his eyes. Pepper was surprised, but than again she wasn't. Tony often woke up when he heard her voice.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She said.

"Why are you awake?" He asked, pressing a light kiss on her forehead.

"This two here seem to thing I've slept enough." Pepper said smiling.

Tony lay his hands on her stomach and looked at it seriously.

"It's enough, you two. Let your mother sleep. I've kept her awake the whole night, give her a break. You'll gonna be able to move more soon."

In fact, the kicking stopped. Pepper grinned at Tony.

"Looks like they like your voice."

"Who doesn't?" Tony replied jokingly, then kissed her and pulled her near him again.

"Let's sleep a bit."

* * *

**AN: I'm actually reading "The trial" for school, so I know a few things about the book. It certainly is confusing. Everything else about it is discussed so often that I think everybody should have his or her own opinion. I hope you liked the chapter!**


	31. Chapter 31

**AN: First off, I'm really really sorry this took so long. I'm really busy with school right now and because of that my updates will take longer. I'm not abandoning any of my stories, though. **

**Second, big thank you to sv4me for letting me use her story!**

* * *

Clint was annoyed. He hated being send on missions alone, especially now, when Natasha was eight months pregnant. But Fury had been very clear about the urgency of the situation (Some terrorist had gotten his hands on a nuclear bomb... yeah, Clint kind of understood that this was important)(but he still didn't like it) so now the archer was packing his things. Natasha stood right next to him.

"Be careful, Clint, I really don't want to have to go there to get you." It was meant as a joke, but Clint could easily read the concern in her eyes.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He tried to calm her. She had been a lot like this when he had to go on missions in the last months, especially after that disaster in Dubai. He knew she hated seeing him leave as much as he hated to go, and she hated to show that. She still seemed to think showing emotions would make people think she was weak.

Suddenly, she flung herself into his arms. It was different hugging her now than a few month ago, because, well, she was … bigger now. Anyway, he held her close and buried his face in her red hair.

"Hey. It'll be okay. I'll be okay. I'll be back in a few days." He said soothingly while rubbing her back with his hand.

"You better be." She said seriously. "Or the little one in here will be angry with you."

"You wouldn't, would you, princess?" Clint leaned down to look at Natasha's swollen belly.

"You'll have to look after your mom while I'm gone, okay, princess? Make sure she doesn't worry to much." He lay his hands down on his wife belly and was surprised and happy when he suddenly felt his daughter move.

"Is that a yes?" More movements.

"I'll miss you, princess." Now the baby began kicking, as if to respond to her fathers words.

"I think that means she'll miss you too." Natasha smiled.

* * *

Darcy was a light sleeper. She had always been, and she had never really cared for that. It was just how it was. But now, living with Bruce, she cursed it. Bruce had, so she discovered to her displeasure, a habit of standing up in the middle of the night to write down some great scientific theory or to test something or sometimes just to get himself a glass of water. And she woke up. Every damn time. It was even worse than usual when one of the Avengers was not at home, so tonight, after Clint went on a mission yesterday, Darcy had woken up three times already because Bruce got up.

When she heard him move the fourth time, she groaned frustratedly and got up. _Might as well read something or talk to him,_ she thought. _It's not like I'm going to get sleep anyway._

She found him sitting at his desk, a pen in the hand and a piece of paper in front of him as if he wanted to write something down. Instead, he just stared into the empty air.

"What's up, Doc?" She asked yawning.

"Uh, nothing." He seemed shocked to see her standing behind him. "Just couldn't sleep and decided to work a bit. I hope I didn't wake you?"

Darcy fought the urge to roll her eyes. Why else would she be awake at 3.14 am on a normal day?

"Not really." She lied. "What are you working on?"

* * *

"You should sleep more." Pepper told Natasha. The assassin looked really tired.

"I know, but this little princess in here just won't let me and..."

"Your worried about Clint."

"Yes. I know he can take care of himself and I know he'll be back soon, but still..."

"It's difficult?" Pepper looked at her sympathetically.

"Yes. Especially after that fuck up in Dubai. I just hate not knowing where he is and how he's doing."

"He'll be home soon. He has two ladies waiting for him, I think he knows better than to disappoint."

* * *

Steve picked Maria up after work. It surprised her to see him standing there, but she quickly recovered and was happy to talk to him. He drove her home and the whole time, they discussed the differences between Dali and Picasso. It was really refreshing to talk about art after a day where she had to decide whether people got to live or not.

He came in the middle of the night. Natasha felt a kiss on her head and opened her eyes to see him standing there, a bit battered but alive and smiling.

"Told you I'd be back."

Tony was down in the lab with Bruce and Jane (who had finally gotten out of her room) when JARVIS suddenly spoke up.

"Sir, Mr. Fury wishes me to inform you that Justin Hammer broke out of his prison."

* * *

**AN: I know, I know, not much happens. Also, I'm sorry it is so short. Next chapter will have more action! I hope you liked it!  
**


	32. Chapter 32

"_Sir, Mr. Fury wishes me to inform you that Justin Hammer broke out of his prison."_

For a moment, everyone was quiet. Tony seemed to be frozen, Bruce thought. Then the billionaire spoke up:

"What does that mean? When? Why?" He seemed frantic, what told both Bruce and Jane that this Hammer guy wasn't a friend of him.

"I'm afraid there is not much information right now. I could find nothing in official sources and Mr. Fury didn't say anything else." The AI informed him.

"Then hack the prison servers and SHIELD... I don't care who you have to hack. Find out what happened and where the hell Hammer is!" Tony yelled now. Tony never yelled.

"Tony. Who is Justin Hammer?" Bruce asked carefully.

"Old enemy of mine. He owned a big weapon company, Hammer Industries, and worked with a terrorist named Vanko. Vanko couldn't stand me, but it was Pepper who got Hammer arrested."

Realization dawned both Bruce and Jane, but Bruce still asked for confirmation.

"You think his going to go after Pepper?"

"Yes. If not for her being the key player in him getting thrown into prison then because she's my wife. JARVIS, inform Pepper about Hammer. I don't want her to go out until we find this guy. And tell Happy too. He should be warned."

"Sir, Mrs. Stark is out with Mrs. Barton. They said they'd be back in about two hours."

* * *

Pepper and Natasha really had a good time. They sat in their favorite café, a really sweet restaurant led by an elderly British lady that didn't see why it was something special to be visited by an Avenger and Mrs. Stark and were enjoying themselves when suddenly a new guest arrived.

He walked towards their table and Natasha needed a moment to place his face. Then, when she realized who he was, she grabbed her gun.

"This is not gonna help you, Ms. Rushman. Or should I say Agent Romanoff? I've got this funny little thing called jammer. I have no idea how it works, but it stops every thing that works with electric energy. Like your gun, which is, when it's correct what a friend of mine says, straight out of Starks lab."

Pepper finally looked up and recognized the man as well.

"What do you want, Hammer. And why aren't you in prison?"

"Oh, you know, Ms. Potts, sorry, Mrs. Stark, I always forget, I don't like prisons. And even less I like people who try to bring me there."

"That doesn't explain how you got out. And don't tell me you planned your escape yourself, because I'm not gonna believe that."

Natasha wasn't sure if it was clever to insult a potential terrorist like Hammer, but it got the attention away from her so she could turn on her phone. Sadly, it was blocked. She then proceeded a knife out of her shoe. _Try jam that, _she thought.

"I wouldn't do that, Agent Romanoff. I've got snipers who have you in their sights. It would be very stupid to attack me now, especially seeing both your condition." Hammer had an ugly grin on his face and Natasha really wanted nothing more than wipe it out, but she also knew when she was outnumbered. Growling, she laid the knife on the table. And then, suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and then nothing.

* * *

Tony was frantic. Not only that, he was also scared shitless. He couldn't reach Pepper. She didn't pick up her phone and neither did Natasha. Even under normal circumstances that would have unsettled him, but now, knowing Justin Hammer was free, it terrified him. He raced through the tower, yelling orders to JARVIS and tried desperately to get a clear head.

Thankfully, Bruce and Jane had taken it upon themselves to explain to Clint, Steve, Thor and Darcy why he was this way. He didn't think he could have done that.

Suddenly, Clint was standing next to him, bow and quiver already on his back.

"I know their favorite café. Let's look there, even if they aren't there the owner maybe can tell us where they went."

Tony blinked twice and nodded. That sounded like a plan. Then it hit him, that it wasn't only Pepper who was missing. Natasha was, too. He wondered how Clint could stay so calm, but then he noticed the light shaking of the archers hands. Obviously, Clint was just better at hiding his distress then Tony.

Happy drove them to the café. The bodyguard blamed himself for the situation, even though all of them (safe for Jane and Darcy who stayed in the tower, no need to bring other civilians in danger) told him multiple times that it was definitively not his fault.

When they arrived, it was silent in the café. To silent. There were no guests, no music, nothing. Clint had an arrow nocked and went in first, followed by Happy, who had his gun drawn.

A few steps away from the door, not visible from the outside, the owner lay. Bruce quickly bent down to check her pulse. Tony was incredibly relieved when the doctor signed that she was alive.

Then Clint saw something and started running. Tony looked in the same direction and saw a flash of red.

Natasha lay on the floor, unconscious, but on the first look she at least seemed unharmed. Clint lay her head in his lap and checked her pulse. They all could see the relief that told them she was alive. Happy, Steve and Thor checked out the rest of the café while Tony and Bruce bent down to Natasha.

Clint murmured soothing words in her ear, to quiet for Tony and Bruce to understand them, but Tony thought it was Russian (what he wouldn't have understood anyway). Suddenly, the redheaded assassin stirred and opened her eyes.

"Tasha! God, Tasha, are you okay?" Clint asked.

"Yeah. My head hurts like hell, but I think I'll be fine."

"слава Богу! Никогда не пугай меня, как это снова!" (Thank God! Don't ever scare me like that again!) Clint said in Russian. Natasha just smiled a bit and then frowned.

"Where is Pepper?"

* * *

**AN: Yeah, I'm kind of evil with this cliffhanger here. I hope you liked it, though. Tell me what you think!**


	33. Chapter 33

The first thing Pepper noticed when she woke up was water.

It swept around her feet and it was damn cold. Shivering, the redheaded woman opened her eyes. She was in a dark cell, the only light was emitted from a small window a few meters above her. Her hands were bound to the wall and she stood in water.

"Ah, sleeping beauty finally woke up."

She looked up and right into the eyes of Justin Hammer.

"I was beginning to think we gave you too much of that drug. You know terrorists, they don't really know how to manage things precisely."

"What do you want, Hammer?"

"Oh, I'm just gonna have a little fun with you. And then I'm gonna watch you die."

"Do you really think you'll get away with that? My husband is going to come for you, as are the Avengers."

"The Avengers? That bunch of misfits? They can do nothing. And about your husband: I just need something from you, maybe a finger, and he'll believe me you're still alive. And then he will anything I say. You're not going to live through this, Mrs. Stark."

Pepper was pissed. And so she decided to do something people usually didn't do when they were kidnapped: She decided to provoke her adversary.

"Oh, really? Because the last time I looked, the Avengers beat and army of aliens. And you? You had to ally with this idiot Vanko and still didn't win."

"I would have won without him! He was the one who slowed me down, this time I will win!"

"Who got you out of prison, anyway?"

"I did it myself!" Hammer was really angry now. Pepper just gave him her 'Really?' look and waited for an answer.

"AIM may have helped." He replied grudgingly.

"Ah, that explains things. And let me guess, you have orders not to kill me until something specific happens. Probably they want something from Tony. The suits, maybe? Until then, you aren't allowed to touch me, am I right?"

Hammer looked like he wanted nothing more then to kill Pepper, but he did nothing, what told her everything she needed to know. Her theory was correct. For now, she was safe.

"This room will fill with water. Your husband has two hours time, the you will drown. I hope he doesn't make it in time." And with that, her kidnapper was gone.

* * *

Clint really hated this Hammer guy. Not only did he attack Clint's wife, but also Pepper, who Clint always saw as some kind of sister. Two defenseless, eight month pregnant women who did nothing different from sitting in a café and having a nice time. (Okay, Natasha would probably kick his ass if he ever referred to her as defenseless in her face, but still: She was eight month pregnant. Attacking her and Pepper was just wrong.)

Suddenly, JARVIS spoke up.

"Sir, there is an incoming call from an unknown number."

Tony looked around in panic, trying to find out what to do, when Rhodey, who had arrived a few minutes ago, replied:

"Patch it through, JARVIS."

"Hello, Stark. As you probably know by now, I've got your wife. I want the plans for your suits. Bring them on top of the statue of liberty. Than I will tell you where she is. You've got two hours. Then she will be dead." A man's voice, probably Hammer, said.

"What did you do to her, Hammer?! I will kill you when I find you!" Tony started to shout, but the call had already been disconnected.

* * *

Natasha felt stupid. Stupid and useless. What is the use of an assassin if she can't even protect her best friend and herself from a second class terrorist like Hammer? And now she couldn't even go out to save Pepper. She would have to stay here, while the guys were out to take down Hammer.

They had positioned themselves out of sight for anyone who would wait for Tony when he brought the plans (it weren't the real ones, just some tech plans that looked like it. Hammer didn't understand the first thing about technology, so it should work) while Natasha would coordinate things over the com.

Tony walked in. Natasha could see over the camera hidden on his jacket that the platform was empty. Nobody in sight.

"To everyone, I see nothing. I repeat, the platform is empty." Natasha told the others. Tony was on com as well, but they decided it was safer if Hammer didn't know that.

After a tense moment, a phone rang. Tony soon found it and picked up.

"Hello?"

"So you're here. Put the plans here and leave. We will send you the coordinates on this phone as soon as we checked the plans."

"What, wait!" But as before, the call was disconnected.

Tony took a deep breath and followed the instructions. Natasha looked to her left and asked Darcy and Jane who were at the computers trying to find Pepper (SHIELD tried that, too, but well, neither Tony nor Jane or Darcy trusted them that much).

"Have you found anything?" She asked.

"No, Hammer simply owns nothing here. I've got no idea what could be his hide-out." Darcy replied.

On the video, Natasha saw that Tony had left the building. Only 31 minutes from their two hours were left.

Then the phone he picked up rang again. A SMS.

"Did you really think you could fool us? Now she's gonna die because of you."

* * *

**AN: Yeah, again a cliffhanger. I hope you like it!**


	34. Chapter 34

**AN: Sorry that this took so long, I was really busy learning for school. Anyway, it goes on!**

* * *

_Then the phone he picked up rang again. A SMS._

"_Did you really think you could fool us? Now she's gonna die because of you."_

* * *

For a moment, there was complete silence. Then, Clint, Thor, Steve, Rhodey and Bruce demanded to know what happened. With shakily voice Natasha told them:

"For some reason, Hammer got the plans are fake. They want to kill her."

There was another moment of silence, before everybody started talking. Rhodey was suddenly right next to Tony, a hand on his shoulder and talking to him to calm him down.

_He looks like his whole world was just shattered to pieces, _Natasha thought. And of course, that was sort of what happened. Pepper was Tony's world.

Then, suddenly, Darcy shouted:

"Hey. HEY! LISTEN TO ME! I FOUND SOMETHING!"

She waited until she could be sure the others listened, and then started talking again.

"You know we all just concentrated on Hammer. But we also all agree that he is not really somebody we think could pull something like that off. So I checked his last visits from prison with the criminal data bases of SHIELD and the Pentagon."

"How did you get into those data bases?" Steve asked.

"JARVIS hacked it for me. Not the point. The point is that I found a match. SHIELD doesn't have a name, but the dude showed up on something AIM related. Saying: I think AIM has its fingers in it."

"That makes sense. They've got the sources and the intelligence to do something like that. Also they have people who know technology." Natasha said.

"Anyway, I had JARVIS do some search and did some myself and found two buildings in the a ten mile distance around New York that SHIELD thinks belong to guys who they think are AIM."

"Very good, Darcy. Clint, Thor, you come with me to the first building. Tony, Rhodey, Bruce, you go to the second building. Hammer gave us a two hour limit. There are still 19 minutes. Hurry up!"

* * *

_It's really not looking good_, Pepper decided. The water was at her shoulders now and no sign of either Hammer or Tony or some other Avenger yet.

She fought hard not to lose her faith, but with the water rising and her hands still tied to the wall it's not easy.

"Come on, Tony, come on." She whispered into the empty cell.

* * *

The air in the jet was thick with tension. Clint was constantly fiddling with his bow, while Thor shifted his hammer from one hand into the other and Steve just stared into the empty air.

The pilot probably picked up on the tension, because he didn't ask any questions and just did what he was told.

"Five minutes until destination." It's the first thing the man said. Steve glanced at his watch. 15 minutes left.

"Okay, here is the plan. Thor, I need you to pull up some kind of distraction. A bit thunder and lightning would be a great help. Hawkeye, according to Darcy, there are no high buildings close to our target, so your coming with me. We stay together and try to get in through the roof. We try not to be seen, because chances are that they will kill Pepper if they notice us. Is everything clear?"

"Clear, Captain."

"I will do as you command, Captain."

"Good."

"Two minutes until destination."

"Thor, it would be good if you would start with the lightning."

Steve took a deep breath. He saw Pepper before his inner eye, kind, clever, warm hearted Pepper who always listened to him when he needed somebody to talk to, the woman who always did her best to help and protect every single one of them in her own way.

And now she was gone. Somebody took her. They would get her back, Steve silently promised himself, and then they would lock up everybody who was only the slightest bit involved. At least that's what Steve hoped they'd do. But thinking back to how Tony had looked and considering how Clint looked now, he wasn't sure if those terrorists would live long enough to see the prison. The scary part was that Steve wasn't sure if he'd stop the two men.

Finally, they were there. The building didn't seem special, but on the other hand, such buildings rarely did. Covered through the lightning and the thunder, nobody saw them as they dropped out of the jet.

The building was empty. Completely empty. He and Clint searched every single floor. There was nobody in it.

"Let's hope the others have her."

* * *

Tony and Rhodey both wore there suits. Rhodey also carried Bruce, who decided he hated nothing more than this way of traveling. But for now it was the fastest way to get to the place where they suspected Pepper was held.

Tony was deadly calm. Bruce had thought there was nothing worse tan a frantic Tony, but no he knew he had been wrong. This absolutely calm Tony was the most frightening thing Bruce had ever seen. _If there is as much as a scratch on her, he's going to kill them all,_ Bruce thought.

There was no elaborate plan like when Steve led them. This was Tony's game, and now the only plan was to attack and to take out as many of them as possible.

The house stood at the shore, an ugly beton building that looked like it was from the eighties.

They didn't try to hide themselves. They just dropped out of the sky, blasters ready to shoot anything that moves. The warehouse seems empty, though, and while they stormed through it Bruce gets the horrible feeling that they are in the wrong place. Suddenly, Rhodey spoke up:

"Hey, isn't it flood right now?"

"Yeah, why?" Bruce asked.

"Because then, we need to look in the basement!"

Of course, the basement. Letting the flood drown Pepper was just cruel, but clever.

And they had only five minutes left.

They parted, trying to find the way into the basement separately. They opened every door, every single one, until suddenly Bruce looked right on the stairs.

"Guys, I found it." He shouted towards the others.

In an instant, both Tony and Rhodey were by his side. They walked in, Tony first. After a few steps, the stairs took a turn left and were suddenly standing full with water.

"Stay up there, Bruce. Rhodey, your suit is waterproof. Just put on the helmet and you're good." Tony said, in this unnatural calm voice Bruce hated. He obeyed, though, he would be no use down there.

Tony was scared. He was scared out of his mind, but he wouldn't panic now because that would really not help Pepper at all. Pepper needed him focused, and so he didn't panic, even when he found the basement flooded. He just thought a moment and then told Bruce and Rhodey what to do. Both men followed him without a word, and that was good, because even though Tony appeared really calm, he was a mess right now and would have probably lost it if anyone said anything.

He walked right into the water, and it was easy, because the suit let him breathe. There was a very slim gap between the water and the ceiling, which was good, because it meant that Pepper was maybe still able to breath. He didn't even want to consider the other possibility, that maybe she's already dead, because he simply wouldn't be able to live without her. So he kept calm and kept walking, even though the gap became smaller and smaller.

And then he saw her. She was swimming in the water, tied to the wall, motionless and not conscious, and he felt like he was going to break, but he wasn't allowed to do that, because there is no way she is dead, and that meant he had to bring her up to Bruce right now. He quickly but carefully cut the ropes and then moved her out, swimming faster than any human could, but he was in his suit so he didn't even notice.

The next moments passed in a blur. He only saw her. She lay on the floor, Bruce hovering over her, her eyes closed and she looked so fragile, so small, so breakable that he almost lost it.

And then... and then she was coughing and it's the sweetest sound that ever reached his ears, because if she was coughing that meant she was breathing what meant she was alive. He took her in his arms instantly, just held her close while she opened her eyes and then she whispered "Tony" and he didn't even realize he was crying and anyway he didn't care because right now she was in his arms and at least for this moment, his world is alright again.

But tomorrow, tomorrow he was going to start hunting those guys down. And when he found them, there would be hell to pay.

* * *

**AN: Yes, she is alive. Next chapter will be up soon, I hope.**


	35. Chapter 35

**AN: I'm really sorry this took so long!**

* * *

Tony was furious.

It had been two weeks. Two weeks since Pepper had been kidnapped. He still woke up in the middle of the night, shaken from nightmares of not being there fast enough, of only finding her dead body. He tried to hide it from her, though. She had nightmares, too. In the first nights she woke up screaming. He had just hold her, knowing that nothing he would say could make them go away. Every time he barely controlled his anger. Justin Hammer and AIM had done this to Pepper. To _Pepper_. If they had kidnapped Tony himself, he would have been pissed, but not this furious.

It had been two weeks and he still had nothing. NOTHING! Not the smallest lead. Hammer just seemed to have disappeared. AIM had not, but AIM was a major terrorist organization that even a furious Tony Stark alias Iron Man couldn't take down in such a short time. He had, however, begun to hack every server of them he found and even given the information straight to SHIELD. In the face of what happened his shenanigans with Fury weren't important anymore.

At least Pepper was better now. She was sitting in the living room with Natasha and it looked like they were gossiping about something. Tony knew that because he had JARVIS show him the video feed. Tony refused to let her out of his sight. It annoyed Pepper, he knew that, but well, the Avengers backed him up here. They all cared for her very much and none of them wanted to risk anybody hurting her again.

Suddenly, JARVIS spoke up:

"Sir, I might have found Justin Hammer."

* * *

Pepper sat in the living room with Natasha and they discussed the latest fashion trends. Neither Pepper nor Natasha were really interested in that topic, but it was an easy topic were none of them had to think to much … and it was far away from anything related to what happened two weeks ago.

After the kidnapping everybody had seemingly walked on egg shells around Pepper. In the first days she had been to caught up in the nightmare of what happened to notice, but by now it was just plain annoying. She had been kidnapped, yes, but she was not broken. She got that they were worried and she got that they only meant well, but she wasn't made out of glass!

"And this skirt... I don't know. Who should wear this? Pepper? Are you listening?" Natasha's voice broke through Pepper's thoughts.

"Actually, I wasn't. Sorry." Pepper took a deep breath. "Natasha, I want you to teach me how to fight. Not now, obviously, but as soon as the little ones in here," She stroked her (in her mind) gigantic belly "are out. I don't want to be the damsel in distress anymore. I want to be able to defend myself."

Natasha looked at her, not shocked, not even surprised, just calculating. After a long moment, she said:

"Okay."

Pepper smiled and said:

"And about this skirt..."

* * *

It was a grainy picture, obviously taken from a security camera. The man on the picture could be Hammer, but it was very difficult to say. Tony stared at it for a few moments.

"JARVIS, where was this photo taken?" He asked.

"Caracas, Venezuela, Sir."

"Caracas." Tony repeated. He wondered if he could get Rhodey to...

"What is in Caracas?" A voice from above startled Tony. He looked up and saw... Clint. Who else.

"Hammer. Maybe." He answered.

"Really?" Clint asked interested.

"JARVIS found this picture." Tony pointed at the screen in front of him. Clint studied the picture.

"What are you planning to do?" He asked seriously.

"Not sure. I can't exactly go there and drag him away, can I?" Tony asked.

"Well, you maybe not, but I can." Clint said.

"You'd do that?"

"Hey, this guy attacked my wife and kidnapped Pepper. Of course I'd do that! I actually thought of just killing him, but that would be to good for him. So, what's the plan?" Clint answered.

"We kidnap him. Then we put him into this hole where he put Pepper. We let him stand there, chained to the wall, and let him feel what he put her through. Just before he drowns, we'll get him out. And put him in there again. And again. And when he begs us to just let him drown, we will give him to Fury. I think your director has a few nice cards up his sleeve as well." Tony said darkly.

"I'm in." Clint said immediately. Hatred towards Hammer was clear in his eyes.

"Me too." A new voice came from the door.

"And me."

"Can I tazer him?"

Clint and Tony turned around to see Steve, Bruce and Darcy standing in the door, looking determinate.

Tony smiled a bit.

"Thank you, guys. And Darcy: Of course you can."

* * *

"So you're going to go after him?" Natasha asked her husband. They were lying in the bed, his arms firmly around her, holding her close.

"Yes. We're going to get him and teach him a lesson about who he shouldn't attack." Clint replied.

"I wish I could go with you. I'm not even mad at him for attacking me, actually, but attacking Pepper was just low." Natasha said.

"Attacking you while eight month pregnant was low as well." Clint meant. Even though he would never really admit it, the attack on Natasha had scared him to the bone. He pulled her a bit closer and took in the scent of her hair. For a few moments it was completely quiet.

"She asked me to teach her self defense." Natasha broke the silence.

"Will you?" Clint asked.

"Yes. We will all feel safer if she can fight." Natasha answered.

* * *

**AN: I hope you liked it! Don't forget to tell me what you think!**


	36. Chapter 36

"Do you have visual, Hawkeye?" Captain America's voice came through the com.

"Yes, he is here." Hawkeye answered. From his position on the inside a higher house he could see Hammer perfectly. The man who had kidnapped Pepper was sitting in a small restaurant, obviously waiting for somebody. He wore a slightly dirty dark suit and was sweating. Also he constantly checked his mobile._ He's nervous, _Clint thought with a smirk.

"He's waiting for someone, maybe a contact to AIM." He told the others over the com.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" Darcy's voice chirped into his ear. "I was able to get his communication details. The cell he is using was bought five days ago in a shop a few streets from your position, Hawkeye. Only three incoming calls, one this morning, all from unknown numbers. I don't know about you, but to me this does not seem very much like our guy is the big boss."

"No, probably not. But he's still our target number one." Natasha said. Even though she was comfortable in the tower in New York, she was on the coms. Pepper was there, too. She had looked very much like her old self again when they had left, what had relived Clint incredibly.

"Do we wait until the guy he's waiting for is there or do we snatch him now?" Clint asked.

"If we want to get AIM too, it would be interesting what this contact has to say." Darcy stated.

"We wait." Steve decided. Clint was able see him, but only because he knew he was there. Steve was dressed like a normal tourist and sat in a restaurant on the opposite side of the street. With the other tourists in there nobody spared him a second glance.

It took the contact another ten minutes to arrive. Hammer started to look more and more as if he was absolutely terrified, and if Hammer hadn't been the man who attacked Natasha and kidnapped Pepper Clint would have pitied him. As it was, he just grinned darkly as he watched Hammer sweat more and searching the restaurant every few minutes nervously.

The contact himself was a disappointment. It was a young man, dressed carelessly, clearly not high in the food chain. Still, they captured him too. He could possess important information.

Steve and Clint make it quick, bringing the two men to their plane without anybody noticing something strange. Bruce sits there, calmly waiting for them, while Tony seems to be barely restraining himself from just killing Hammer and the AIM guy right there. Darcy however just sneaks up behind them when they regain conscious and then tazing them. Steve shoots her an unapproving look, but she just shrugs. They did give her the permission to do this, after all.

* * *

They made sure that when Hammer woke up again, he was in the very same spot Pepper had been in. At first he did not realize what was happening, then he seemed to think it was a dream. Only when the water starts rising he started to get it. He screamed at them, yelled that he was going to tell them everything, that they shouldn't do that because AIM would be coming for him, but they just shrugged. AIM wouldn't come for him, and even Steve, who was fully against any sort of torture, admitted that Hammer deserved it. Pepper didn't know. She was in the tower with Natasha (who would have liked to be there two watch Hammer squirm as well, but the men had strictly denied it), Jane, Thor (he hadn't really understood the situation and in the and the rest of the team had decided to ask him to stay there to protect Pepper and Natasha) and Darcy (who thought her part in this done). Pepper thought they gave him straight to Fury like they did with the AIM guy.

Natasha smiled darkly at that. Pepper was such a kind person, still, after all she had faced, she would never had allowed 'her' boys to do something like this. But there was no denying that Hammer deserved it, and it wasn't as if there were killing him. Waterboarding was no fun, but Natasha could easily point out five methods of torture that were worse.

Right now they were sitting in front of the TV. On screen there was a really cheesy romance that still managed to get Natasha. She blamed the hormones.

Pepper sat next to her and stroked her belly absentminded. Both hers and Pepper's due date were in about two weeks and Natasha was feeling huge. Really huge. But when she looked over to Pepper the other woman was even bigger, unsurprisingly, actually, considering she was having twins, but still.

"When are the boys coming back?" Pepper asked.

"Soon, I think." Darcy answered.

* * *

Hammer was a crying mess when Tony walked into the room. They had let the water rise high enough so Hammer really thought he was going to die, but then let it out. They hadn't even really done torturing like he had been tempted to. They were the good guys, after all.

"You know, I really just wanted to kill you and get over it." Tony said. "But then I thought over it again and decided that death would be to good for you."

Hammer was silent. He looked at Tony with a begging in his eyes that disgusted Tony. Who did this man think he was, attempting to drown a helpless pregnant woman and getting away with it?

"Even though you really don't deserve to live and I've actually got an equally enraged Hawkeye out there, who knows even more dirty tricks than I do, I think that the next step in this is good. I'm not going to kill you, but I bet you're going to wish I did. SHIELD considers you an enemy, you know, and I've got the feeling that you won't like it there."

Then, Tony punched Hammer right into the face, satisfied by the crack that indicated that he had broken the other man's nose.

* * *

"How is he?" Maria asked. Fury had send her to pick up Hammer.

"Alive." Steve answered. He wasn't exactly fine with what Tony and Clint were doing, but he got it. They didn't actually hurt him, just scared the crap out of him. This man deserved nothing else.

"Injured?" Maria had to ask. Fury had told her not to fuss over the state Hammer was in when she got him, and personally she just wanted to grab a gun and shoot him, but protocol was protocol and she had at least to attempt to be professional and not personally involved (what she totally was. Pepper was a nice woman and what Hammer had done was just _wrong_).

"Not really. He's scared shitless but other than a tazer mark there's nothing, I think." Steve replied steadily.

"Good." Maria hesitated. "How are you?"

"Angry. Really really angry. But we've got him, and we will get AIM, even if it's going to take us a while. We're going to teach them a lesson about what we do when someone attacks one of our own." Steve said it with a coldness in his voice that Maria had never ever heard from him. Well, this was taking it's toll on everyone, she supposed.

Then the look on his face changed, got softer, warmer.

"You know, there is an art exhibition at the Met in two days. What do you think? Want to come with me?"

Maria smiled. "Why not?"

* * *

**AN: So, that's it for now. I hope you liked it. Don't forget to tell me what you think!**


	37. Chapter 37

Pepper woke up when she felt a sudden wetness between her tighs. It took her a few moments to realize what that meant. Than she turned around to Tony.

"Tony! Tony, wake up."

Her husband mumbled something ununderstandable and attempted to turn around and sleep on.

"TONY! I'M GOING INTO LABOR!"

That woke Tony. He looked around frantically and started running around in the room.

"My god, Tony, this is not helping! JARVIS, tell the others, Tony, dress yourself and get the car ready!" Pepper did not have any patience with him now.

"Yes, yes, fine, JARVIS, alert Happy! And Rhodey! And the hospital!" Tony was near a panic, Pepper could see that, but she didn't pity him, either. She was the one who was about to give birth to twins, not he.

"Help me up, Tony, now!"

* * *

Natasha was awake when her water broke. She had gotten up to fetch herself a glass of water and was therefore in the kitchen when it happened.

"Clint!" She screamed and ran into their bedroom.

Clint was still asleep, so Natasha took the glass of water she still had in her hand and poured it over his head. Clint bolted upright and shook his head so hard that the water fell on her.

"What happened?" He asked.

"What … What happened? My fucking water broke! Get up, you idiot!" Natasha screamed. She was very nearly losing it now, and she was also scared. It wasn't as if she had ever learned to do something like this.

Suddenly, JARVIS spoke.

"Mrs. Stark wishes me to inform you that she is going into labor. She and Mr. Stark will be going to the hospital."

Clint was completely still for a moment, than he exploded into motion. He picked up their hospital bag that they had packed a few days ago and dressed himself.

"This is going to be fun. I pity the stuff at that hospital. JARVIS, tell the others that Natasha's going into labor as well!"

There was a short moment of silence in which Natasha and Clint finished dressing themselves, then JARVIS spoke up again.

"Mr. Hogan will drive to the hospital in five minutes. Do you wish to drive with him?"

"Yes!" Natasha and Clint screamed at the same time.

* * *

The ride to the hospital was tense. Both Natasha and Tony seemed to panic, will Pepper and Clint kept it together, but only barely. Poor Happy had to drive through the traffic of New York with four borderline insane passengers who couldn't stop screaming at each other. He wished Rhodey was there. But Rhodey was in California and would take a few hours to arrive.

When they finally reached the hospital, it took the receptionist about ten minutes to realize what was going on, because everybody tried to talk at the same time. It took Happy walking in front of them and calmly talking to the poor woman while everybody else still talked to make her understand.

Soon both Pepper and Natasha were in a hospital bed in two separate rooms.

The nurses in the hospital, who at first had been very exited that four celebrities were in the hospital soon learned to avoid their rooms. While Pepper was still Pepper, a bit scared but calm and at least trying to be friendly, Tony was running around in their room completely frantic. It was kind of scary to see a man like to Tony Stark alias Iron Man losing it like this.

The other room was even worse. Natasha Romanoff alias the Black Widow was screaming and threatening every nurse that dared to come into her room. Her colorful curses, mostly in Russian but every now and then also in English or other languages could be heard in the entire hospital wing. Next to her sat Clint who did his best to calm her down but had not much success.

That was how the other Avengers found them when they arrived half an hour later, rather sleepy still (it was 3 am!), but all present, including Darcy and Jane, and another half hour later even Maria who kept giving Fury updates. Another five hours later Rhodey came, he was allowed to go into Pepper's room directly.

The hospital was basically humming with chatter. All the Avengers in one hospital! It wasn't like that happened everyday. A few nurses tried flirting with Steve, but Maria shot them all her 'I-have-a-weapon-and-I-will-not-hesitate-to-use-it ' look and they backed of. Even the bravest nurses and female doctors realized that Thor was out of reach (he and Jane cuddled the whole time) and all kept their distance from Bruce. Under other circumstances that would have caused the Avengers, especially Clint and Tony, to make a scene, but well, they weren't there and Bruce as well as Steve and Darcy were simply to tired to care. A few assistant doctors tried their luck with Darcy, but she pulled out her tazer and threatened to use it if anybody else tried and they stopped it.

Finally, they were allowed in Clint and Natasha's room. Natasha looked very exhausted, but happy. Next to her Clint was beaming with happiness. Natasha held a little baby in her arms.

"Hey, guys." She said softly. "Meet Alexandra Hope Barton."

The baby, little Ana, was sleeping, but she was extremely cute. On her tiny head there were a few locks of fiery red hair. Everybody got to hold the little baby, even Thor, who was very afraid to crush her.

They were laughing about it when a nurse (an elderly woman, the only one Natasha hadn't scared away) came in to tell them that they could see Pepper now. With the help of Clint Natasha who had insisted on coming with them got into a wheel chair (she would have preffered to walk but had realized that this was not debatable) and went to see their friends. Tony sat on the bed next to Pepper (finally still and not moving), and both of them held a small child. Rhodey stood right behind Tony. They radiated a happiness that made them all smile.

"This is Robert James Stark." Tony said and smiled down at the little boy.

"And this is Joanna Grace Stark." Pepper said.

* * *

**AN: It just felt right to end the chapter here. Like you will have noticed, there is nothing about the actual process of giving birth, which is because I have no idea about that. Anyway, I hope you like it, and don't forget to tell me what you think!**


	38. Chapter 38

***hides behind chair***

**I'm back, guys =)**

**Don't hate me for the long wait, please =)**

* * *

"You take Rob, I take Jojo, okay?" Tony said. They were on their way back home from the hospital, after their children had been checked out and declared healthy.

"Jojo? Really?" Pepper asked tiredly, but obviously amused.

"Yes. Jojo. Short for Joanna." Tony answered.

Pepper chuckled.

"I should have known you'd give her a nickname."

* * *

"Life in this tower is going to get more complicated now." Darcy stated.

"Why?" Bruce asked tiredly.

"Come on, we have three babies in here! Two little girls and a boy. In the first time, they aren't going to sleep during the night what means that Natasha, Pepper, Clint and Tony aren't going to get enough sleep and than they'll get cranky. And then, sometime, this kids will learn to crawl what means that they will be everywhere. In the kitchen, in the bedrooms, in your lab. Everywhere. And you'll always have to look after them because they eat about everything. And then, in about 15 years, the girls will start dating. Ever thought of how Clint and Tony will react to their little girls dating? What they are going to do to that poor boy is kind of my definition of hell, you know?"

"That is far away. Fifteen years … that's not worrying me now. Also, I always thought you love babies?"

"I do! Of course I love babies! Especially cute babies like Joanna and Alexandra and Robert! It will be so cool with them! I'll be Auntie Darcy, that will be the best thing ever!"

"Darcy, you've had to much coffee and not enough sleep. You get irrational. You really should go to bed now!"

* * *

"You know, this is kind of … it more or less destroys whatever picture of this world I had, you know. I mean, Natasha and Clint are good people, really. But … I've got to know them when I came from the Army. I got to know them as agents. They are damn good agents, but … it took me a long while to see the humans behind the agents. And now this two, the people who I always saw as kind of role models for their jobs: determinate, apparently hardhearted, really good at what they do... they have a kid, you know. An absolutely cute daughter. It's just, it's just strange, I think."

Maria and Steve sat in the living room together. Both of them were tired, but they couldn't sleep and so they were still up and talking.

"I think it's wonderful, you know. It's them. They have build a family. I don't know about their pasts, but I don't think that they had a nice family. And it's them, who have decided to not let others stop them, to not let their past overwhelm them. If they can start a happy family, well, I think if they can, everybody can. You just need the want to do so.

* * *

It was quiet when Natasha woke. She reached for Clint, but found his side of the bed empty. Fully awake now, she sat up.

"Clint?" She asked. No reaction. Shortly she considered asking JARVIS for help, but then she had an idea.

She found him in the nursery. He had Alexandra in his arms and talked to the little girl.

"... you know, little angel, one day you will look like your mother. Your mother is very beautiful, and you will be beautiful as well, I just know that. I hope you'll be not as hot-tempered as she is, but if, well, than that's you. I love you, my little angel, no matter what, always remember that. We're probably not always going to get along, but I will always love you. There is nothing that could change that. Nothing. I will try to tell and show you that everyday, but I don't know if I'll succeed. You know, my dad didn't exactly win the dad-of-the-year-trophy. I will try to be the best dad you can imagine, but I don't know how that works. Maybe sometimes you'll just have to tell me when I'm doing something wrong. But I have you and I have your incredible beautiful, kind and lovely mother, and that makes me the happiest man in this whole world, so I will try to give you some of that happiness, I promise."

Clint had been absolutely caught up in his monologue to the little girl and didn't notice Natasha standing in the doorway, but now he smiled to her. She smiled, too, and walked to him.

"And you know what, beautiful girl, I know that your father is going to be the best father imaginable. Maybe he doesn't believe so himself, but I know." Natasha smiled to her husband.

He leaned to her and they shared a short, sweet kiss over the head of their daughter.

* * *

**AN: I know it's short, but more will come soon!**


	39. Chapter 39

**AN: Sorry this took me so long! I was really busy with my finals =(**

* * *

It was 2 am on a Thursday evening and Tony Stark was pacing through his bedroom. In his arm lay his three weeks old daughter. And Joanna Grace Stark screamed.

The little girl had woken up about half an hour ago and hadn't stopped crying ever since. Her face was really red by now and Tony had tried everything. Really everything. Nothing seemed to calm her, though. She just kept on screaming.

He looked up helplessly when Pepper came through the door. She had, obviously successfully, tried to put Rob back to bed after he'd been woken up by Joanna's cries.

"She just won't stop crying." He said, hoping Pepper would come up with something, but his wife only smiled tiredly. She had dark rings under her eyes and seemed a bit pale.

"Go to sleep, Pep, I'll figure something out. Don't worry." He told her. Tony knew Pepper needed sleep. The twins were three weeks old and in this time they hadn't slept throug

* * *

h a night. At all. Most times, Pepper had gotten up to calm them down and put them back to sleep, and also Pepper had insisted on starting to work again. "This company doesn't run itself, Tony!" She had said and wiped all his concerns away.

Now he carried his little baby girl out of his bedroom, to his lab. It always calmed him down, so why not his daughter. Quietly, he walked through the desks and half-finished inventions.

"Look, that is an arc-reactor. Daddy has one of those in his chest. It's … it's kind of like a night light. Funny, isn't it? And there, when that thing is finished it should detect magic. Don't look at me that way, I was bored. And that is an EMP. That is really good if there is a robot attacking you, you know, when he is... I tell you that when your a bit older." Tony smiled. Stories about how he charged into battles with the other Avengers really weren't something he should tell his baby girl.

Then he realized that she had stopped crying. She looked at him with big blue eyes and seemed to be listening to every word he said.

"You like engineering, don't you? Yes, your your fathers daughter. We will have so much fun when you grow up."

"I don't want you to go." The words were uttered into the silence, almost as if the speaker didn't want to admit it to herself.

"I don't want to go, either." Clint answered. It was true. Leaving his little daughter, his little angel and his wife behind to go on a mission was the last thing Clint wanted to do. But Fury had insisted that he needed to go on this mission, that there was no-one else who could do it. And so Clint found himself getting ready to go. He had packed a few clothes, two guns and a bow. And, as foolish as it might be, he had also packed a photo of Natasha and Alex. Natasha smiled into the camera, while Alex looked mildly interested. Every time Clint looked at the picture he had to smile.

"I'll be back before you know it." He promised before leaving for the SHIELD helicarrier.

* * *

"How are you dealing with this?" Pepper asked.

She and Natasha sat in one of their favorite cafe's, drinking a coffee and gossiping a bit. Clint was gone two days now. He was supposed to be back in three days.

"I … I just miss him, you know? It's not like we haven't been on separate missions before, we've spend a lot of time on different sides of the world. Just now... Alex misses him, too. She cries more often. And sometimes she looks around in the room as if she was searching something." Natasha took a deep breath. "We both miss him." She looked at her daughter. The little girl seemed to have a staring contest with the Stark twins.

"He'll be back soon." Pepper said. She smiled sympathetically at her best friend.

"How do you deal with the sleepless nights?" Natasha asked to change the topic.

"It's hard, especially now that I've started working again."

"You shouldn't work! Give yourself a bit time, you'll need it." Natasha said.

"You sound like Tony! I can deal with it. I'm used to it." Pepper said smiling. She took a sip from her coffee, then she looked at Natasha again.

"You have started training again, haven't you?" She asked.

"Yeah, but that's not the point. I don't work. You do." Natasha answered.

"That's because in my line of work it's not likely that somebody will shoot me." Pepper said. Then she realized what she had said and opened her mouth to say something, but Natasha cut her off.

"That's true. Still you should relax." Natasha's smile looked a bit forced.

* * *

**AN: Hope you liked it!**


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